Remember, part of the approach is that you are trying to optimize diversity as much as you can. You don’t need to come up with creative teams, but feel free to do so if you’d like.

Travis Pelkie inspired this idea when he sent me his ideas for 52 Marvel titles, so I thought that it would be fun to see what the rest of you thought (hopefully Travis will post his initial suggestions in the comments below).

Tigereyes000

Inhumans by Morrison and Quietly
Luke Cage by Bendis and Lark
Black Cat by Peter David and Terry Dodson
Fury by Johnathan Hickman and Castellini
Union Jacks by Paul Cornell
Marvel Mystery (featuring various detectives of the Marvel Universe)
Dakota North
The Deep Six featuring Namor and various Atlantean characters
Tales of Dr. Strange
Gamora, Most Dangerous Woman in the Universe
Sorcerer Supreme (rotating stories about various sorcerers in the Marvel Universe)
The New Masters of Evil
Imperial Guard

Additional X-books: 15-20
X-force
X-factor
Gambit and his currently unnamed team (possibly a team based around an idea I was playing with of a team of super heroic theives)
X-men Legacy
Cable and his currently unnamed team (another idea ive been rolling round, set in medieval with a team mainly composed of older versions of legacy characters old immortal weapons/black knights/black panthers etc)
New Mutants

Avengers: 21-26
Avengers Academy
Ms Marvel
She Hulk (Dan Slott back on the title)
Black Panther
Ant-man – (the new home of introducing entirely new concepts into the Marvel U that FF used to have)
Hercules

Other Team Books: 28-37
Captain Britain and MI13 (with purposely kidnapped Paul Cornell)
Midnight Sons (a team designed to give a home to street level mystic characters particularly Ghost Rider/Blade)
Guardians of the Galaxy
Annihilators + a ressurected Nova
Defenders (repositioned to be a more concrete team with a fixed plotline)
Heroes for Hire
Agents of Atlas
Exiles
A marvel JSA equivelant – eg golden age characters
Runaways
Powerpack

Other: 46-47
Amazing Fantasy – anthology title – first strip must be a massive name create team to draw people in and thus keep the book afloat, the other strips are for introducing entirely new characters and concepts to the universe
A Horror Anthology – again we need a massive headline creative team to bring people in
My own personal vanity project ongoing of some sort.

Afterthoughts: 48-52
An ongoing Frontline title which looks at all events from the ground up.
Hand Neil Gaimain the keys to whatever currently unnaccounted for marvel u component he wants.
Astonishing X-men – aka. the artistic X-men book rather than the plot driving one.
Magneto
A swords and sorcery comic of some sort.

There we go, a full 52 not using anything not found in the Marvel Universe already.

Nick Fury Agent Of No One by Jonathan Hickman and Jim Steranko
S.H.I.E.L.D. by Nick Spencer and CAFU
Kitty Pryde Agent of S.H.I.E.D. by Joss Whedon and John Cassady
Spider Woman Agent of S.W.O.R.D. by Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev
Tales of The S.W.O.R.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. by Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, Art by Dave Gibbons, John Cassady, George Perez and others

Marvel House of Heroes

Avengers by Geoff Johns and George Perez
New Avenger by Brian Bendis and Mike Deodato
Captain America by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
Captain Marvel by Grant Morrison and Carlos Pacheco
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman and John Bryne
Hulk by Jeff Lemire by Dale Keown
Iron Man by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca
Thor by Matt Fraction and Oliver Coipel
Tales of the Marvel Universe by Alan Moore, Kurt Busiek, Art by Alex Ross and others

The Streets of the Marvel Universe

Cage by Brian Bendis and Michel Lark
Dakota North by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott
Daredevil by Jonathan Hickman and Alex Maleev
Powerman and Iron Fist by Fred Van Lente and Wellington Alves
Iron Fist by Nick Spencer and David Aja
Tales of the Iron Fist by Nick Spenser, Matt Fraction, Alan Moore, Jason Aaron, with art by David Aja, Frank Miller, George Perez and others

Agents of Atlas by Peter Milligan and Scott Clark
Amazing Adult Fantasy by Warrant Ellis and others
Deathlok by Joe Casey and Leonard Manco
The Eternal by Neil Gaiman and Kev Walker
Journey into Mystery (Science Fiction Anthology) by Alan Moore, Peter Milligan and Jeff Lemire and others
Miracleman by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham
The Living Zombie by Brian Bendis and Chris Bachalo
The Complete Last Galactus Story by John Bryne
Supreme Power by Jason Aaron and Gary Frank
Tales of Suspense (Crime Anthology) by Alan Moore, Jason Aaron and others

49. Doc Samson, Super-Hero Therapist (written by Peter David)
50. Damage Control (a revival of the Dwayne McDuffie book about the people who clean up after super-hero battles)
51. Doom (writing him as a Shakespearean-style flawed king)
52. Squadron Supreme (in the JMS “Max” mode)

Juan V’s inclusion of Miracleman is one that I almost made on my list as well. But I think that character stands better as his own thing, outside a shared universe. (Strikeforce: Morituri probably would, as well, but I’d envision it as being in a possible future of the Marvel Universe.) Kicking myself for not thinking of the Joe Casey/Leonardo Manco Deathlok, though — I loved that book.

Ritchard

I can’t come up with 52, but would use this as an excuse to relaunch Sleepwalker (Budiansky and Blevins), returning to the “done in one battle against a goofy villain” style of the first year or so worth of stories. I would also have a book starring Michael Collins as the only character called Deathlok to have ever existed, and use all my arcane knowledge of comic book resurrections to return Dwayne McDuffie to life because no one else can ever write that character the way he could. =(

And Simon Furman could write an ongoing Death’s Head series, drawn by Geoff Senior. I’d also remind Marvel of the existence of Circuit Breaker and have someone really talented write her as a deranged former Stark Industries employee who was injured in an accident and thinks it was a giant one-eyed purple robot from space that did it.

The Mutt

eltitandeoro

Sorry but a relaunch at Marvel is not needed. So not really a point in making one up. Usually these type of reboots are done by companies like DC that cannot keep their own house in order. btw,DC is the one that has had diversity issues for years. Not Marvel.

Travis Pelkie

The Mutt

I think Marvel could definitely use a reboot, especially since they seem to be insisting that every story that ever happened in a Marvel comic actually happened. (see The Illuminate.) Unless he’s supposed to be 90 years old, Spider-Man has fought a new supervillain every 90 minutes since he started in the business. Earth has been destroyed several times. Cap is still a “man out of time” even though he’s travelled to a dozen planets. Everybody has died at least twice. And by my last count, there are currently 9,769 superheroes operating in America.

I’ve been reading comics for 50 years and even I find their continuity daunting. Read a character history of your average X-Man. It’s insane.

While all of Miss Anony’s list was great, I did a bit of a spit take at “52. X-Men, featuring the Avengers.” Well done.

I don’t want to spend the time to try and list 52 of my own, but thinking it over quickly I think it does speak rather highly of Marvel that you could keep quite a few of their titles as they are and have plenty of diversity. Thunderbolts, Avengers Acadamy, Heroes for Hire, Black Panther, Power Man and Iron Fist, Secret Avengers – the list goes on of titles that showcase characters of different ethnicites. Much more so than DC’s titles.

Final Two: A Spy anthology type book mashing together SHIELD, Nick Fury, and Secret Warriors and a Horror type anthology book taking Blade, Tomb of Dracula, Midnight Sons and even including recognizable heroes in less than “sunny” situations…..

Whew..there’s my 52…and before anyone asks….you don’t include Ultimate books since this whole thing is a Reboot of the entire line….Now I need a drink…..

Ben Gebhart

1.) The Amazing Spider-Man (solo adventure book)
2.) Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends (team-up book w/ Spider Family back-ups)
3.) The Fantastic Four (original members)
4.) Thing And Torch Team-Up (the popular duo pair with other heroes)
5.) Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers becomes Marvel’s lead female hero)
6.) The Uncanny X-Men (main team adventures)
7.) X-Men: Utopia (solo character spotlight book also featuring hot creative teams)
8.) Wolverine (solo book)
9.) Daken And X-23: The Wolverine Family (double-sized book for a dollar more. Value!)
10.) The Uncanny X-Force (nothing changes from what’s happening now)
11.) Power Man And The Immortal Weapons (the new PM teams with Danny Rand and his Immortal allies)
12.) The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (main team book, featuring Cap/Thor/Iron Man/Ms. Marvel)
13.) The Astonishing Avengers (team led by Luke Cage w/ focus on street-level heroes)
14.) Avengers Academy (nothing changes)
15.) Black Widow: Secret Avenger (same concept as Secret Avengers, but more spotlight on Natasha)
16.) The Invincible Iron Man (nothing changes)
17.) James Rhodes: War Machine (“2.0″ my butt…same team, different title)
18.) The Mighty Thor (main solo book)
19.) Journey Into Mystery (nothing changes)
20.) Sif And The Warriors Three (spin-off adventures in Asgard)
21.) Hawkeye And Spider-Woman (lots of potential in the new couple)
22.) The Incredible Hulk (Bruce Banner retakes his solo book)
23.) She-Hulk: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Jen Walters enlists with the secret agenda of discovering who’s running things behind the scenes)
24.) Hulks: Red Vs. Bomb (Thunderbolt Ross and Rick Jones…hilarity ensues!)
25.) Thunderbolts: Justice, Like Lightning! (nothing changes)
26.) Deadpool (one and only solo book)
27.) Venom: Tales Of Symbiote Suspense (featuring Venom, Carnage, Anti-Venom, Toxin, etc.)
28.) Nick Fury: Agent Of Atlas (Fury changes gears yet again, and puts his life in the hands of Jimmy Woo!)
29.) Ghost Rider And The Midnight Sons (main solo feature w/ spotlight character back-ups)
30.) Guardians Of The Galaxy (reverted back to before all the deaths, merged with Annihilators)
31.) Nova: The Human Rocket (solo space-faring adventure book)
32.) Excalibur And The Stories Of MI:13 (I agree with the above idea of kidnapping Mr. Cornell…)
33.) The Deadly Hands Of Kung-Fu (Shang-Chi stars in this badass genre book)
34.) Dr. Doom And The Masters Of Evil (this would be a supervillain spotlight book with a Doom main feature)
35.) Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (nothing changes as of the soft reboot)
36.) Black Panther And Storm: Royalty Of Wakanda (not sure about the subtitle, but it’s what I got; title explains itself)
37.) Pixie’s World (a fun, inspirational adventure series for all-ages)
38.) Spotlight On: The Inhumans (Jack Kirby-inspired stories and art featuring the Moon-based mutates)
39.) The Punisher (I assume nothing changes…faith in Rucka, and all…)
40.) The Lost Loves Of Spider-Man (romance stories starring Gwen Stacey, Mary Jane, Felicia Hardy, etc. and not necessarily Peter Parker, set in different time periods)
41.) Marvel Mysteries Featuring Howard The Duck (detective stories that double as perfect settings for more oddball characters like Man-Thing, Nighthawk, etc.)
42.) The Sorcerers Supreme (Dr. Strange, Dr. Voodoo, and The Scarlet Witch unite to protect the Earth from mystical harm)
43.) Tales Of New Atlantis Starring Namor, The Sub-Mariner (this book would flesh-out Namor’s undersea kingdom and supporting cast)
44.) What If…? (featuring alternate takes on existing characters and stories, minus most of the doom and gloom)
45.) Hercules And The Prince Of Power (Herc and Amadeus join forces as full-time adventurers with an ongoing bet to see whether brains or brawn embody true power)
46.) Heroes For Hire (nothing changes as of Misty Knight reboot)
47.) Marvel Comics Presents (the home for spotlight stories that fit nowhere else)
48.) Tomb Of Dracula (the book returns with horror stories, narrated by Dracula himself)
49.) Dazzler: Queen Of The Mojoverse (Allison Blaire must hold her control of the maniacal Mojoverse with a savage fury…and pop music?!)
50.) Slapstick Stories Starring Slapstick (there can be nothing wrong with a comedy book written by the industry’s funniest contributors)
51.) Darkhawk: The Dark Avenger (totally rebooted with the core concept intact, in the same vein as Jamie Reyes as Chris Powell becomes the youngest Avenger in history…and Luke Cage means to test him!)
52.) The New Warriors (new team merging Paul Tobin’s Young Allies with a rotating cast of members seen in “Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt”, as well as Thunderstrike, X-23, etc.)

Wow…and that’s that. As a life-long Marvel Zombie, I tried to do right by their history and what I’ve always and currently love about their characters and concepts. I also did my best to give due respect to a diverse group of cultures, genres, races, and sexes, where readers old and new could find something for any interest. I hope anyone reading enjoys, and thanks for hosting these lists! Great fun!

41. Ghostrider
42. Moon Knight
43. Punisher
44. Black Panther
45. Wolverine MAX set in 616
46. Guardians of the Galaxy by DnA
47. Silver Surfer
48. Inhumans
49. Mary Jane (single but still associated with Spider-Man and in New York, with a Marvels-esque civilian view of the Universe)
50. S.W.O.R.D. by Gillen
51. Runaways! May as well stick Spencer on that one too.
52. Ka-Zar

I probably WOULDN’T do 52 titles all at once. Marvel publishes too many titles and mini-series as it is that it feels like it’s competing with itself. I’d just start out with the core titles and characters: FF, Spidey, X-Men, Cap, Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Daredevil and the Hulk. Then add a few more later characters that are insanely popular such as Wolverine, Deadpool and the Punisher.(MAX?) Black Panther: Man without Fear has been excellent, so I’d definitely want to keep that; and perhaps make Astonishing Spidey/ Wolverine an on-going somewhere down the line. Perhaps an X-Men: First Class book similar to the recent movie. Thunderbolts would have to wait until we had a decent amount of “Masters of Evil” storylines under the belt. “Marvel Team -Up” and “Two in One” would be fun. Heroes for Hire, Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange, Moon Knight (MAX title?) She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye would be definite maybes. (These books tend to get cancelled alot, sadly.)

Perhaps I’d try to introduce one or two brand new heroes/concepts into the mix. Integrating them into the MU at the ground level might give them a better chance of success in the market.

Mary Warner

I guess I should say first that restarting the whole line like this is a horrible, horrible, DC-ish thing to do, and Marvel should never do anything of the sort.

Also, 52 ongoing series is too many.

But since this is supposed to for fun, here is my list. In my version, none of the history is erased; we’re just continuing from where we are now.

1 Amazing Spider-Man Fortnightly, like it is now, but with a new writer. He can join up with the Avengers or Fantastic Four occasionally, but not a full-time member
2 Fantastic four Traditional team, without too much ridiculous technology

Avengers books–

3 Avengers
4 West Coast Avengers
5 Avengers Academy Exactly as it is now.
6 Captain American The real one Bucky should die again
7 Iron Man
8 Thor
9 Wasp She’ll probably be resurrected soon, so she should get a series, by Peter David or Roger Stern. No Hank
10 Ms Marvel

Mutant Books–

11 Uncanny X-Men Only one series, but it can be fortnightly, like Spider-Man
12 X-Factor By Peter David, like it is now
13 New X-Men About the school, by Christina Weir and Nunzio diFilipis, just like the old one
14 Excalibur With Captain Britain and mostly-mutant team, just like the old days Funny and slightly surreal
15 New Mutants Traditional team at current ages, but without Rahne, who stays in X-Factor, and Warlock, who disappears from Marvel forever
16 Kitty Pryde
17 Rogue Why not?
18 Wolverine Because people seem to want it for some reason He can be an X-Man or an Avenger, but not both

Cosmic Books–

19 Silver Surfer Away from Earth, where he belongs
20 Warlock & the Infinity Watch
21 Rom Parker Brothers hasn’t used him in decades; surely he must be available

Street Heroes–

22 Luke Cage & Jessica Jones A Heroes for Hire-type situation Bendis can write it if he wants to Luke can remain with Avengers or Thunderbolts, but not both (And Jessica should smoke again)
23 Heroes For Hire With Misty Knight
24 Daredevil Not too dark
25 Cloak & Dagger
26 Black Cat By Peter David if he can find the time
27 Arana She can keep the cool black suit, but give her her own name back
28 Silver Sable
29 Moon Knight Not too insane or violent

Other Stuff–

30 Doctor Strange
31 The Defenders Valkyrie, Hellcat, and Beast, plus whoever the writer wants Maybe by Peter Gillis if he still exists Under no circumstances, ever, to include Hulk, Namor, or Surfer
32 The Hulk Banner version No other Hulks ever to appear again for any reason (except for She-Hulk)
33 She-Hulk
34 Young Allies Just like it was last year
35 Thunderbolts
36 Alpha Flight But don’t make Canada too totalitarian
37 Marvel Team-Up With four or five stars who rotate every few months One of them can be Spider-Man
38 Spider-Woman The good version- Julia Carpenter, with her traditional powers and vision restored Jessica Drew can still be around, and even call herself Spider-Woman– There’s no reason there can’t be two

I ran out of ideas. There are plenty of heroes that could have a decent series, if the writer is good, but none of them really stand out in my mind.

The important thing is to put a halt to the big crossovers, at least for the next five years or so, don’t go overboard with the violence, don’t kill major characters except under very rare circumstances, don’t have so many resurrections either, and don’t be afraid to spend more time with the heroes’ private lives.

Ok. The goal here is to promote as much demographic and genre diversity as possible. I would organize my Marvel 52 in 13 families of 4 titles. Each family would release one title per week and most of the cross-overs would occur within that group.

Okay, I got waaaay too into this. It was too much power…I got drunk on it. Made plenty of mistakes and omissions that I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself for the second I post. Also, it definitely skews X-heavy since the X-men are my jam (i.e. when forced to decide between giving Ms. Marvel or Emma Frost a book, I couldn’t help myself and Frost got a book), but what can you do…if it’s my world, this is how it looks…

ETA: I like the way Dean did his, and I wish I’d thought of it. *pouts*

Plus, some ALL NEW BLOOD!
43. Detective book of some kind – Scott Snyder & Francesco Francavilla (there aren’t enough detectives in the 616)
44. Horror book of some kind – Jason Aaron & Ben Templesmith
45. YA book of some kind – Ben Caldwell (something along the lines of his YA Wonder Woman Pitch for DC)
46. New Book – Anything Evan Dorkin & Jill Thompson want to do together
47. New Book – Anything Jason Aaron & R.M. Guera want to do together
48. New Book – Anything Mike Mignola wants to do
49. New Book – Anything Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan want to do together
50. New Book – Anything Darwyn Cooke wants to do (preferably something period – when guys were guys and dames were dames!)
51. New YA Book – Anything Skottie Young wants to do
52. “Mad Max X-Men” – Kelly Thompson & Ross Campbell (he can do two books, I know he can)

Anonymous

Sam

I wouldn’t start with 52 books in a million years. There’d be just a handful each week, so that people could get a taste. Also, I’d take some characters that fans are fond of and have potential to become iconic characters, and give them a push:

Week Three
11) Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
12) Dr. Strange
13) Ms. Marvel
14) The Uncanny X-Men
15) The Brotherhood of Mutants (A contrast book to the X-Men… rather than having a “black and white” world where Magneto’s squad were bad guys, they’d instead be a young team led by Magneto, and follow more of an X-Force-type philosophy: identify and defeat your enemies before they have a chance to mobilize against you.)

I wish there was an edit feature here, because I’ve rethought my line a little bit. It wasn’t diverse enough — not by a long shot.

I’m going to presume that we’re talking a line-wide reboot similar to what DC is doing, and that other imprints would be fair game for inclusion in the new Marvel Universe. I’m deliberately excluding MAX and Ultimate books, which are in their own continuities; that’s the way to do Squadron Supreme and Marvelman/Miracleman in my opinion, so neither are listed below. I’ve also removed Strikeforce Morituri for the same reason — would love to see that come back as a MAX book, though.

48. Doc Samson, Super-Hero Therapist (written by Peter David; perhaps a Night Nurse backup?)
49. Damage Control (a revival of the Dwayne McDuffie book about the people who clean up after super-hero battles)
50. Doom (writing him as a Shakespearean-style flawed king)
51. A Western semi-anthology (Red Wolf and the Rangers modern-day feature by Mike Grell, as suggested above; rotating backups of historical Western characters written by John Ostrander, Tim Truman, Joe R. Lansdale, maybe even Garth Ennis if they could get him to do something not MAX-level)

Brian Cronin

SERAPH

1.AMAZING SPIDERMAN #1 by Dan Slott & John Cassidy – Peter goes to retcon OMD in the first issue cause it will be the fate of either Aunt May or May Parker. Featuring the return of Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider. At the same time, Peter is still trying to keep life as it is.

2. AVENGERS #1 – by Matt Fraction & Stuart Immonen – The team behind Fear Itself on a regular book. Honestly, they work really well together and I love Fraction’s protrayal of the Avengers. The team he would pick, not sure but would be something.

3. UNCANNY X-MEN #1 – Brian Michael Bendis & Marc Silvestri
Get ready as a whole new Era begins with the X-books. Storm & Black Panther T’Challa herald a new era with a new team of X-Men. They will be the true inheritors of Xavier’s dream but they are doing it their way. Get ready for the new Uncanny X-Men as they face a brand new threat that will issue a new challenge to the X-Men for years to come.

4. NEW AVENGERS #1 – Nick Spencer & Chrisscross
Luke Cage, Jessica Jones Cage and Spidey pick up the pieces to rebuild the New Avengers, stronger than ever. Who will be on the New Avengers? And what will happen when the Sinister Six become the Sinister Seven?! And for the first time ever, Spiderman . . . Leader of the New Avengers.

5. THE MIGHTY THOR #1 – Bill Willingham & Mark Buckingham
Thor has built a true bridge between Earth and Asgard. But it is a whole new beginning for the God of Thunder as The Egyptian Gods are pissed at the Asgards. God War is coming and nothing will be the same.

6. DAREDEVIL # 1 – Greg Rucka & Rafael Albuquerque

7. FF #1 – Mark Waid & Barry Kiston
A reinvented FF with new surprises as the past , present and future all collide, building a new team. And Human Torch is STILL dead.

8. MS. MARVEL #1 – Marjorie Liu & Nicola Scott
Yes. Since she does not have relaunch titles, I would let her go nuts on Ms. Marvel.

9. ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 – Brad Meltzer & Mike Choi
Cyclops & Emma Frost are missing. It is up to Havok and his team of X-Men to track them down while keeping things together in Utopia. Problem is . . .What happens when someone they thought dead comes back for them. And no . . .NOT JEAN GREY.

10. CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 – Ed Brubaker & Steve McNiven

11. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN # 1 – Greg Rucka & UDON

12. HULK #1 – Peter David & David Yardin

13. THE PUNISHER #1 – Rick Remender & Bing Cansino

14. X-FACTOR #1 – Mark Millar & Valentine De Landro

15. NEW DEFENDERS #1 – Neil Gaiman & Steve Epting
Brand new concept as Black Cat uses her Bad Luck to get sucked into forming a brand new New Defenders group, whose main Purpose is to combat Mystical Threats. Join Black Cat, Blade, Lyra the She Hulk and more as the New Defenders come together to face the things in the dark.

16. INCREDIBLE HULK # 1 – Peter David & Sam Kieth

17. DR. STRANGE – Bill Willingham & John Paul Leon

18. SECRET AVENGERS #1 – Nick Spencer & Scot Eton

19. ALPHA FLIGHT #1 – Dan Abnett ,Andy Lanning & Dale Eaglesham

20. GHOST RIDER #1 – Jason Aaron & Sebastian Fiumara

21. MYSTIC #1 – Mark Waid & Terry Dobson

22. SHE HULK #1 – Brad Meltzer & Greg Land

23. IMMORTAL IRON FIST #1 – Matt Fraction & MIke Deodato

24. MOON KNIGHT #1 – Jonathan Hickman & Matthew Clark

25. X-MEN #1 – Jason Aaron & Humberto Ramos
Shadowcat & Rogue step up the Lead a group of X-Men unlike nearly any you have seen.

26. WOLVERINE #1 – Jonathan Hickman & Jae Lee

27. NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT #1 – Marjorie Liu & Marco Santucci
Reimaged for a new era as we look at the world above and below with Namor.

28. DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE #1 – Rob Williams & Humberto Ramos

29. AVENGERS ACADEMY # 1 – Christos Gage & Jose Luis

30. SIGIL # 1 – Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch

31. INHUMANS #1 – Warren Ellis & Tom Raney

32. NEW WARRIORS #1 – Cristos Gage & Mike McKone
The team is forced to reunite when an old enemy of there’s resurfaces.

The Crazed Spruce

I’m gonna just stick with titles, and leave out the creative teams for the most part, because I’m fairly out of touch with the current industry, and I’d pretty much be drawing names out of a hat for the lion’s share of it. (Then again, that seems to be what DC did….)

And, of course, the unclassifiables:
48: The Incredibles
49: Marvel Comics Presents (hey, I’m a sucker for a good anthology)
50: Strange Tales (featuring the darker corners of the Marvel Universe, like Ghost Rider and Morbius)
51: What The–?!
52: What If?

Travis Pelkie

I still have to read everyone’s lists, but let me remind you that when mine does go up, it was written BEFORE this post and anyone else’s list. Obviously, since I inspired the post, but I think there are some jokes I made that other people have been making (like Miss Anony’s list of Wolverine titles — I just didn’t name them all).

But I’m seeing love for Nextwave, too, and that rocks!

Chris B

Ok, My 2-cents worth Base on what I would read, not necessarily what would sell!

Spiderman Books:
1.Amazing Spiderman
2. Peter Parker The Amazing Spiderman
3.Ultimate Spiderman (The only Ultimate title – contains backups set in the Ultimate Universe) 48pgs
4.Spiderwoman (Jessica Drew)
5. Spiderboy (based on the Amalgam character, set in the near future 20-30+ years, this was a combination of Spiderman and a version of Superboy that really doesn’t exist anymore so it could work as an original charcter strictly in the Marvel Universe, this would be a fun action packed title, Spidergirl could be a backup)

X-titles:
10. Uncanny Xmen (one book, one team only)
11.New Mutants
12. Wolverine
13. Age of Apocalypse – title set in that alternative timeline
14. I Mutant (see title as suggested by someone else above, I think it’s a really good idea to introduce a charcter as a ‘readers point of view’ new to the Marvel and Mutant society.

All the Rest:
15. Union Jack (just love the character and his look, could encorporate charcters in the UK and Europe –
I envision the character as a really ‘get the job done sort of guy’ the most adversaries under estimate.
16. Marvel Mystery – love the idea of a title that concentrates on detectives in The Marvel Universe, not something they’re really known for as compared to DC. Maybe it could include characters like Jess & Luke Cage? Dakota North? New character?
17. Dr Strange
18. Marvel Two In One with The Thing – One of my favourite titles as a kid and I love team-up titles.
19. Beast and Wonderman – I imagine this by Giffen, DeMatties and Maguire
20. Alpha Flight – John Byrne is the only person to ever do this concept justice
21. Sentinel – The old series of a boy and his sentinel robot!
22. Dracula – One of Marvels best ever series needs to return, a great ‘villain’ book
23. Epic Illustrated – In a magazine format, Adult comics and concepts (not just gore and tits) by the best creators.
24. What if? Marvels ‘Elseworlds’ alternative takes on characters and concepts, not just alternative ending to old stories like the previous series
25. Howard the Duck – because the world today needs more Howard
26. Marvelman – Gaimen finishes this puppy up
27. Moon Knight
28. She-Hulk
29. Incredible Hulh
30. Guardians of The Galaxy – 80pg giant that covers the cosmic side of Marvel. The Guardians themselves, Silver Surfer, Warlock, Tales of the Imperial Guard
31. Man-Thing – Marvel needs a title for their own muck-monster
32. Thunderbolts – back to it’s original incarnation, ex villains looking for redemption.
33. Red Wolf and The Rangers – loved this suggestion from above again, the mid-south west offers a lot of scope, would love to see the return of the character Vegas and The American Eagle in a series like this
34. Miss America – As a new character, the ultimate female celeb superheroine, Are you america’s next superheroine?
35. Jungle Action with the Black Panther
36. Marvel Premiere – a place to introduce new characters and concepts or revitalise old ones in new ways.
37. Bizarre Adventures – a place for indie creators to play in the Marvel Universe
38. Captain Marvel
39. Agents of Atlas – too cool not to get back it’s own title
40. The Mandarin – a concept of Paul Popes that was presented way back in the pages of Marvel Visions Timeslip. Too good not to be a part of the 52, The Mandarin interpreted as a young man who had he life turned upside down my Chinese revolutionaries – he seeks the ten mystic rings to plot his revenge burt insted uses his power for personal pleasure and self indulgences, pitting the world powers against each other.
41. Amazing Fantasy – 80 pg giant, a humour mag – the lighter side of The Marvel Universe featuring The Fing Fang Four, Bob Agent of Aim (or is it Hydra?), Damage Control and the Iredeemable Ant Man
42. Strange Tales – 80 page horror anthology, Satanna, Werewolf by Night, The Nightstalkers, Zombie(s)
43. Sleepwalker – wayout tales in the dreamscape
44. Astonishing Tales – 80 page anthology with a sci-fi edge, Deathlok, DP 7 (an examination of normal people that gain amazing powers set in the near future – no costumes or codenames) Machine Man and the return of my favourite comic as a kid, Rom!
45. Th Hood – the anti Spiderman, with great power come great opportunity, could work as Marvels equivalent of DC’s Secret Six
46. The Vision & Scarlet Witch – Mysticism and hi-tech
47. Ruse – the best of the Crossgen properties
48. The Runaways – would only work with Brain Vaughan back at the helm
49. Deadpool, Merc With a Mouth – the return of the zombie head, must be drawn by Bong Dazo!
50. Daredevil
51. Black Widow
52. Jack of hearts – I just love the character

Lex

1.Avengers Volume 5(?) Probably consisting of classic Avengers but no Wolverine or Spidey. They got their own thing going. #1. The Avengers are

2. Iron Man. Tony’s back on the bottle and he bought out by Disney.

3. Hulk. The brother of colonel Glenn Talbott is out for revenge after the Red Hulk made that robot facsimilie of Glenn Talbot. Hey, it’s an idea.

4. Incredible Hulk. Bruce Banner and the Green Hulk are haunted by a mysterious prescence who is tracking their every move. Which turns out to be….

5. X-FACTOR is back in it’s original form as the four of them go to look for Jean Grey while pretending to be mutant hunters and suddeny all the mutant from the Decimation come back and then some.

6. Wolverine

7. Deadpool

8. Spider-man Ben Reilly is back and he takes over because there are no magical Spider-people in his past. Hey, his story is much more simple and everything is new to him. That was the appeal to him. Now, Mary Jane is stalking him, but Ben’s his own man and while Doc Ock is planning something big involving some other character and it’s personal. Mysterio is back and it turns out he was Filmmaker Kevin Smith all along.

9. Speedball! Yes.

10.Devil Dinosaur and Iron Fist. It could happen.

11. X-Men volume… 5…. ?

Uncanny retains its original numbering.

12. the Fantastic Forty Seven! O.K. ‘FF’ but no spidey.

13. Captain America Comics.

14. Thor in something closer to his older costume. Maybe a combination of the two.

15. Mutant Force. Sort of like a combinatin of New Mutants and X-Force. Cannonball’s not immortal in this one.

16. Marvel Man

17. Son of Namor. I made this up. He’s young and he’s raised on land. He’s got a bad attitude.

18. Ghost Rider.

19. Avengers West Coast. The original Human Torch returns and can that guy eat like regular people?

20. Punisher War Zone

21. Desert War. A Nam like comic except about the United States various conflicts in countries like Afghanistand and Iraq. Basically about what horrible places they are. In issue 5 Osama Bin Laden dies on every page.

James

Ok, I cant name 52 (can’t be bothered haha….) But the characters I most want to have a series – and with reboot changes:

1. Banshee – make him in his mid 20’s – but still red head and Irish!

2. NorthStar – DC didn’t have the guts to give a gay male character his own series – how about Marvel give it a go?!? Please!! And change the wonder twin costume he has – its a bit generic.

3. Dazzler – More like her Ultimate name sake – grungy looking, rock, heavy metal or punk music, and into drinking, sex and drugs! I’m serious. It’d be awesome! Maybe a max title?

4. Generation X – either a new series with the same characters, or individual titles. I miss Chamber and Husk the most. So they are the two I most want to see – and Jubilee. I could do without Synch – he didn’t really have a personality, and his power was lame.

5 Monet – (I know she was also in Gen X – but she need more attention!) Make her actually have AUTISM!!!! When she was first introduced – her trance like states were her most interesting feature (which lasted about her first 2 years) And it was speculated by characters (Beast) that she had Autism. Instead we got that clusterfuck of an origin! Please change it!

They are my top 5! – I’ll probably come back with more!

Travis Pelkie

Nice work, everyone. I like a lot of the ideas here. Miss Anony did great, Stefan Robak had that cool Pope on Sleepwalker idea. The Eye had a bunch of good ones. SERAPH, I like the New Defenders thing, but not the Meltzer on anything. Gary reminded us that we need Fred Hembeck Presents. And just read the rest yourself!

Dean and The Mutt both had interesting marketing plans, and I love the Mutt’s “burn it down, start over” philosophy.

And I just want to say to Ritchard that although I know what you’re talking about with Circuit Breaker, “giant one-eyed purple robot (from space)” is funny.

Man, Kelly put a lot of thought in. I suspect she’s had most of that list ready to go at any moment. That’s why she’s a columnist here, kids! Now I wanna know what Mad Max XMen would involve.

It’s interesting how a lot of people want anthologies, but they never seem to sell. And people want looks into the character’s lives more. Maybe more done in one “breather” issues, like people have been saying Scott Lobdell was good at, are needed.

Ok, next some prelim comments.

Travis Pelkie

So I was inspired partly by Bill Reed’s list (that I don’t have the linky to, sorry) of DC books he’d do, and someone who commented on one of the DC posts here on CSBG (I wanna say Steve…) who said what would Marvel do. Not that it’s an overly brilliant idea, one of the big 2 does something far out, what would the other of the big 2 do given the chance?

I went with my funny bits (some of which are mixed through my piece) and then filled out the rest with what Marvel’s been doing recently. I didn’t worry about any non superhero stuff, or the Ultimate line.

Remember, this was written before any other comment here. So I can’t steal Kelly’s great idea for the other artist on Wolverine.

So here it is:

52 (or so) Marvel books that should happen if they did a DC style reboot

49 Wolverine books, and 3 different Avengers titles. And Wolverine is on all 3 of those Avengers teams.

No, no, I’m just kidding.

I started thinking about this when someone posted a comment like this on a post about the DCnU. So here’s my list. You’ll notice that I don’t have a whole lot of creative teams selected. That’s because I don’t follow Marvel THAT closely. And I don’t want people thinking that I think ill of some creators based on the crap I put them on.

There are some serious suggestions, but a lot of these are goofy. Tread lightly.

1. Secret Warz: Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck, or maybe Sal Buscema. No need to bother with “plot” or “story”, just have all the Marvel characters on a different planet and punch the fuck out of each other. Continually.
And remember the Beyonder’s goofy outfits? Yeah, it was the ’80s, but this time, the styles change every issue (every panel?), and the Beyonder is a female alien, and his name is Lady Gaga.

2. Atlas, Agents of: Jeff Parker gets ANOTHER chance to make this work. Colleen Coover on art this time.

3. Flaming Carrot: After the success of Mystery Men, Marvel goes all out and creates a new weird crimefighter who is a vegetable aflame. He is on 5 different Avengers teams. “Written” and “Drawn” by Josh Hoopes and Rob Granito.

4. Moon Knight: by Dave Sim and Bill Sienkiewicz. Since the premise of the new Moon Knight series seems to be that he’s got MPD with other superheroes in his head, let’s do it right like Dave did years ago with the Roach in Cerebus. Sink on the art, for his history with the character and because Dave digs his stuff.

5. Dazzler: written by Taylor Swift. Yeah, that’s right. She’s not a roller disco girl anymore. She’s a talented country pop singer that brings her own pyro-tech-neeks. Maybe get a manga type artist on it.

6. Mutha fuckin’ Luke Cage: In full on ’70s mode. Even though Bendis has a hardon for Cage, the book goes to the Afrodesiac guys, Rugg and Maruca.

8. New Avengers: I guess people like what Bendis is doing, so keep at it.

9. Avengers Academy: Because Mary Warner likes it.

10. The Haven’t Been Avengers: Anyone who hasn’t yet been an Avenger is on this team. No, I don’t know who’s left either.

11. Secret Avengers: Totally forgettable stories that seem really cool when you’re reading them, but you can’t remember what they were about 30 minutes later. And they all could have been done in one issue.

12. SHIELD: Hickman goes nuts with conspiracy history and charts up the wazoo. This entry would be funnier if I’d ever read any Hickman stuff.

13. Nick Fury: Black ops spy stuff. Chaykin story and art. Fury as a real prick who has a lot of sex, so Chaykin doesn’t have to work too hard. Extra fun: Fury’s got a black clone of himself, who’s sick of these muthafuckin’ snakes on this muthafuckin’ Helicarrier.

14. Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos: A war book. Except the conceit is that this group has fought and will fight in EVERY war. We go through time and space and see the effects of war all over.

15. Black Widow: Ties in with Fury and Secret Avengers. Any op requiring a hot redhead Russian who can’t keep her boobs in her tight leather outfit, those are the ops for her.

16. Pet Avengers: Hell yeah! The first mini ruled, so we need this monthly, dammit.

17. Iron Man: Tony Stark, supergenius and superdick. His armor fights crime, but he’s an ass in his personal life. Also gathers the Marvel geniuses to plot the fate of the world. Stupidly, he gathers them to go drinking.

18. The Rainbow Hulks: 8 Hulks. Each a different color. However, that’s the only difference, they all kick in as Hulk when they get angry. 2+ year long story arc where we find out, yes, they are different colors. No, no, that they are all actually cast members (Samson, Talbot, Rick, Betty, Thunderbolt, etc) that Bruce Banner has encountered over the years. Even the dead one, Jim Wilson.

19. Zodiac: If Todd hadn’t snatched up Casey and Fox, they could have done an ongoing with the anarchic villain.

20. Daredevil: We need a less angsty DD. Let’s hope Mark Waid does this, but if not, get Karl Kesel or Joe Kelly on it.

21. Sleepwalker: In a bold move, and to entice him to prove they’ll let him finish Marvelman/Miracleman the way he wants, Marvel gets Neil Gaiman to finally “do Sleepwalker right”. Art by someone new every issue.

X-Men related stuff: let’s see, how many X Teams can there be, and how many can Wolverine be on?

30. Dr Strange: A spooky mystic book. With out there psychedelic visuals. Either Mike Allred or Brendan McCarthy on art. If Fraction’s able, have him bring some Casanova type fun to the party.

31. Thor: Gotta have him. But he’s gotta talk all Shakespearean, or I say thee nay!

32. Thunderstrike!: With DeFalco! And Frenz! For! Bill! Reed!

33. Journey Into Mystery: I know this was historically a Thor title, but it sounds like it’s something more esoteric. Let’s have Ulysses Bloodstone and a bunch of D-listers as “archeologists of the weird”, or something. Yeah. Planetary what?

34. Nextwave: Ellis and Immonen. C’mon, you wouldn’t buy the hell out of this?

36. Punisher: Have him going after all the villains and heroes in the Marvel U. He’ll be hunted by everyone. Maybe this is what Rucka is doing anyway.

37. Spider-Man: By Slott and Marcos Martin. That would be sweet. Did you see that one issue a while back? So cool. Uh, the current status quo seems ok, so stick with it.

38. The Sentry: Every issue retcons and reveals a new person that the Sentry has banged. First issue reveal, the Hulk.

39. Fantastic Four: The original 4. Give it to Karl Kesel, finally. Fun adventures through the world, cosmos, multiverse.

40. Galactus: Every issue could be a new number one. Galactus (in the purple dress from his first appearance, natch) devours a new alien planet every issue. Art by someone new every time: Alex Ross, John Cassaday, etc. Written by Warren Ellis or Garth Ennis, at least until they get bored.

41. Silver Surfer: Put Stan the Man on it, and the Surfer just pontificates on the human condition. For pages and pages. Then Galactus comes, and SS has to plead for the life of the earth. Or something. But Galactus finally gets sick of it and eats the Surfer.

42. Captain America: Steve Rogers, today. The Man out of time faces today’s problems with the grit and determination of the Greatest Generation. He declares war on the Axis, telling them to get off his lawn. Then he’s led to the home by Sharon Carter.

43. Winter Soldier: Maybe a retcon here, that Bucky didn’t become Cap. Winter Soldier is back with his memories, but we’re not sure which side he’s on.

44. Captain America and Bucky: Set in WW2. Missions that haven’t been told yet, special appearances by Fury and the Howlin’ Commandos, the original Torch, Namor, Invaders, Thor. Brubaker and Lark.

45. Black Panther: He’s with Storm, and Wakanda has united Africa, in order to improve the lot of all Africans. Klaw, African dictators, and the UN all oppose him. But the benefits to the African people make them Panther supporters.

46. Namor: He’s united HIS people too, and works to enlighten the surface world with Atlantean advanced science. He’s trying to make the world more livable for all.

47. Doom: Dr. Doom’s adventures through time and the hell dimensions. He’s trying to save his mom and his gypsy people, but Mephisto opposes him at every turn.

48. Howard the Duck: Ty Templeton could make this work monthly. I could say that about any book, though.

49. Iron Fist/Shang Chi: Awesome monthly kung fu. We find out whose kung fu is old, and now must die. Or they team up against Shang Chi’s father and fight other kung fu…ey guys.

50. Guardians of the Galaxy: The 30th century version that Valentino did. And yes, EVERY Marvel character from now survives to the 30th century. THEY JUST DO!

Man, this is hard. Ok, a few more.

51. Millie the Model: A harder edged version. A young girl trying to make it in the modeling world, and the compromising positions she’s put into. Drawn by Greg Land.

53. Ghost Rider: Jason Aaron and Mark Texiera. Because Aaron kicked ass on GR a few years back, and Tex kicked ass in the ’90s. Although how he’ll fit the book in his schedule while he’s on the Yankees, I’m not sure.

54. The Watcher/What If: What If stories about anything and everything in the MU. Every issue the Watcher says that the code of the Watchers dictates that he must not interfere! 3 pages or so later, he interferes. But it all works out ok.

Yeah, so that was a couple of extras, so if you didn’t like some, you can ignore them. Hope I didn’t forget any good titles. Hope you laughed a little.

Rollo Tomassi

There’re some awesome ideas in here! The guys over at Marvel are probably all giddy with the ideas they can crib from for the next five years. And at the very least they ought to offer a couple of you jobs.
But seriously, well done everyone.

Stefan Wenger

Hey! I asked for this discussion, and you gave it to me. Surely, the CSBGods do smile upon me!

So, focusing mainly on writers, here’s my list–

The Don’t-Change-A-Things (Same creative team as present)—
FF by Hickman & Epting
Uncanny X-Force by Remender & Opena
Wolverine by Jason Aaron
Thunderbolts by Jeff Parker
S.H.I.E.L.D. by Jonahtan Hickman
Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen
Power Man & Iron Fist by Van Lente, now ongoing
Spider-Man and Wolverine by Aaron & Kubert, now ongoing
She-Hulks by Harrison Wilcox, now ongoing
Ka-Zar by Paul Jenkins, now ongoing
Venom by Remender
and let’s give Rob Williams some time with Ghost Rider
and Greg Pak with Alpha Flight (but he’s on his own, ’cause I’m using Van Lente on too many other titles)

Keep link to the raft but lose manthing get hank to hhok em up with a door through the infinite mansion. Led by Songbird and Mach-whatever wheelchair bound USAgent As governer moonstone as team psychologist.

17 Secet Warriors/Avengers
Fury lead team working for new Shield semi rotating cast from butterfly teams and covert types core members Daisy, Irredeemable Ant Man, Druid.

41 Journey into Mystery/Pantheons
Concentrating on the various mythical characters

42 Marvel Comics Presents
Big Guns vs Youth in Revolt
flip book 12-16 pages each way (or 2 6-8 pagers) side 1 Established characters in Solo/teamup stories(Moon knight, X characters, avengers etc include nextwave and I’ll love you forever)
side 2 Young characters/teams that cant seem to maintain a full series but are good (runaways, Cloak and Dagger young avengers,young allies, Daughters of the dragon, initiative members)

This was tons of fun, to do and read, everyone’s lists are so interesting.

@Travis & Daniel: I pitch my “Mad Max X-Men” as…take the best elements of the X-Men, the best elements of Mad Max, and blend! When pouring out final product, make sure to strain out any Mel Gibson and any weird racism/sexism/insanity etc. that may have escaped into the mixture and…Voila!*

Doug

Hmm, what I would do with Marvel’s Supernatural side is make a new Legion of Night book and make it Marvel’s Supernatural version of the Justice League Unlimited animated series, meaning every Supernatural character is already a member. (Including normals with supernatural influences like Moon Knight)

Chris Lang

1. The Amazing Spider-Man (after it’s revealed that Norman Osborn was brought back to Earth by Mephisto to manipulate Spider-Man into getting into that deal with the devil, with the help of a fake Aunt May — the real one died in Amazing #400, and the deal is undone and Mephisto thwarted).

2. The Spectacular Spider-Man

3. Spider-Girl (May ‘Mayday’ Parker as Spider-Girl)

4. Marvel Comics Presents (Anthology book for those heroes who don’t have their own solo books, but writers want to write solo stories about them anyway that may or may not tie in to the team books those heroes are a part of)

5. MC-2 Presents (Anthology book featuring the other heroes of the MC-2 Universe that Spider-Girl inhabits).

6. The Mighty Avengers.

7. The West Coast Avengers

8. Captain America

9. Fantastic Four

10. Uncanny X-Men

11. Astonishing X-Men

12. Academy X (after more or less undoing ‘Decimation’)

13. Nextwave: Agents of HATE

14. Alpha Flight

15. Excalibur (Going back to the basic X-Men UK branch idea)

16. What IF? (Pretty much a return to the original concept, showing how pivotal moments could have turned out differently)

17. Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)

18. The Incredible Hulk

19. Ultimate Spider-Man

20. Ultimate Fantastic Four

21. Ultimate X-Men

22. Ultimate Avengers (this after the events of ‘Mutamitlu’, which rewinds things back to before ‘Ultimatum’ happened).

FIX AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Retcon this piss poor, horse crap that we’ve been force fed since’ Quesada walked in and frakked the whole thing up in OMD. Everything since’ has been either just above or just below the level of weeks old compost.

OK.. I am not expecting this and I suspect no comic publishers would ever go for my choice in a million years. I suspect it would actually be endless variants of Spider-man, Thor, Avengers, FF, X-Men etc

TurDucken

1. X-Men (rebooted)
2. X-23 (Same as it is now, don’t fix what’s not broken! Cept maybe add Jubilee as a mainstay with Gambit)
3. Avengers (rebooted)
4. FF (Keep as is now.)
5. Doctor Strange (non-reboot)
6. The Institute (New X-Men/Academy X kids or utopia all merged into one title, but expanded pages to 52 per issue for the volume of characters. This way they all don’t get left out in the dirt for those that like those characters. Same continuity as now.)
7. Avengers Academy/Young Avengers (Same as above, all their stories in one 52 pg issue per month. Non-reboot)
8. Symbiosis ( Anti-venom and Venom, or any other symbiotes, non rebooted, same as above with 52 pages, but carries all symbiote characters in their own stories.)
9. Wolverine and Son (Non-reboot, same as above 52 pgs but covers both wolverine and Daken stories within.)
10. Cloak and Dagger (non-reboot)
11. Fraternity of the Raptors/Darkhawk (Non-reboot, carries on from where his Cosmic Arc left off)
12. Marvel Divas (Non-reboot, this time acts more like women of marvel being a collection of stories, including the friendships of a few 52 pgs)
13. Quasar (non-reboot)
14. Nova Corps (non-reboot)
15. X-Factor (non-reboot)
16. Uncanny X-Force (non-reboot)
17. Tales of the Cosmic (52 pgs collected stories comic, covers all cosmic marvel that doesn’t have a title)
18. Thor (non-reboot)
19. Captain America (non-reboot)
20. Iron Man (non-reboot)
21. United they Stand (the non-rebooted avengers book)
22. Heroes 4 Hire (non-rebooted)
23. The Brotherhood (non-rebooted, focuses solely on the brotherhood and magneto with Mystique backup stories)
24. Uncanny X-Men (non-rebooted, to keep a basic X-Men title around)
25. Spider-Man (non-rebooted)
26. Ultimate Spider-man (non-rebooted)
27. Spider-man loves Mary Jane ( picking up where the previous left off)
28. The Sensational Spider-Man (rebooted to pre-BND)
29. Alpha Flight (non-rebooted)
30. MI-13 (non-rebooted)
31. Thunderbolts (non-rebooted)
32. She-Hulks (non-rebooted 52 pg book, collecting red she-hulk, she-hulk, and the other she-hulk)
33. Hulks (non-rebooted 52 pg book, collecting red and green hulk, skaar, and the warbound)
34. The incredible Hulk (non-rebooted, the basic Hulk book)
35. Guardians of the Cosmos (52 pg book covering GoTG and Annihilators)
36. Armor Up ( 52 page book that covers stories for War Machine, and Rescue.)
37. Black Panther (non rebooted)
38. Daredevil (non-rebooted)
39. Moon Knight (non-rebooted)
40. Secret Avengers (Non-rebooted)
41. Tales from the Age of Apocalypse (AoA centric book collected stories 52pgs)
42. X-Men Legacy: The Dream Lives ( A book focusing on xavier’s dream, and how he feels about the current marvel status quo, 52 pages to also carry the normal X-Men Legacy book too.)
43. Hercules (non-rebooted)
44. Blade (non-rebooted)
45. Punisher (non-rebooted)
46. Ghost Riders (Non-rebooted, but 52 pgs covering stories of all the Ghost Riders past present and future)
47. FearStruck (52 pg story collection all marvel horror characters not in any books already)
48. Thor Corps (non-rebooted, covers all those who wield a hammer like thor 52 pgs)
49. (dot)Gov ( 52 pgs, covers shield, Aim, Hydra, and any other organization in marvel, non-rebooted)
50. Deadpool ( 52 pgs, covers all deadpools, and includes backup feature that explains the rebooted comics as deadpool vision made reality or something.)
51. Mutants of Marvel (52pgs, covers all mutants who aren’t on a team, or aren’t currently active, including sunfire, warpath, and anyone that’s in another country than the X-Men.)
52. Marvel Fanatics (52 pgs, fan submitted Scripts featured for any character, winners hand picked by marvel, and drawn by marvel artists, winners published get a prize of some kind that changes per entry issue, a quarterly comic to allow for the time needed and minimize the alloted prizes. Prizes varying from signed issues, to signed posters, figures, statues, you name it. Every 20 issues a fan vote for the best story within those issues, and they get to help plot out the rebooted books event Arc.)

That’s all I could come up with at least. Though tbh, don’t fix what’s not broken. Only a handful of Marvel comics are broken, like uncanny X-Men, and lately the normal titled Avengers.

The rest I think we can do without, I really think companies should strive for quality in their titles instead of quantity. Most comic buyers I talk to can’t afford to buy most of the titles that are required reading in these MEGA crossovers events and just want good storytelling with nice art.

Not as good as I’d like, but a start. The Cap books are really lacking women, the Thor and Spider books really lack ethnic minorities, and the LBGT are really just in the teen and X-Books, which is a shame.

Hector Bobo

FABIAN P. BISOGNO

marvel Knights
Black knight,Hercules,Amadeus Cho,Moon Knight,Scarlet Witch and Valkyrie.(could be Crystal and Sersi insted)
Iron man and Captain America selects a group of Avengers in the search around the globe of the infinity gems.

George Asimakos

i can’t sit here and make a list of 52 comics that i would actually read. i totally understand having teams that share members like ff, new avengers, etc. for marketing purposes. However, i can’t honestly say that i would ever buy more than one spider-man or wolverine ongoing comic. I mean that’s just absurd. how much can one person want to read about spider-man? one spider-man monthly comic is enough. the only thing that’s wrong with marvel is that they need to trim the fat. that’s all.

Ben

Meztopia

1) Spiderman
2) X-factor Investigations
3) District-X (would tie closely to #2)
4) Uncanny X-force (Gov’t sanctioned black ops mutant team)
5) X-Men (Core team based on helping mutant kind)
6) Luke Cage & Iron Fist (use the new power man as the sidekick)
7) Strange Tales (Dr. Strange and a rotating roster of magic based characters fight the unknown)
8) Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos (modernize their backstory)
9) Captain America
10) Avengers (take them back to being a UN sanctioned team)
11) Wolverine (Solo adventure that takes him across the entire marvel U while interacting with every team instead of being the member of every team)
12) Iron Man
13) Darkholm Redeemers (Relic hunters and protectors of mystical artifacts)
14) Blade (fighting with and against the horror based characters of the marvel U)
15) Thunderbolts (keep the current concept)
16) Frontline (based off of the Frontline news group that was formed during the civil war. Can tie in to #1 & #2)
17) Journey into Mystery (Anthology series with Uatu the Watcher as the Narrator)
18) Fantastic Four
19) Namor: King of Atlantis (Fantasy based title set in the realm of Atlantis and it’s history)
20) Academy X (Gov’t sponsored school for super powered youth fuse the new mutants and Avengers Academy concepts)
21) Britannic and the Exiles (Multiverse spanning adventure)
22) Union Jack
23) Pete Wisdom (espionage James Bond Style)
24) Guardians of the Galaxy (Interstellar police force. title will follow the core team)
25) Captain Mar-Vell
26) Gambit (cast Gambit as a rogue Thief with a robin hood complex)
27) Damage Contoll (comedy series about the aftermath of super hero fights)
28) Deadpool (keep him the same, but maybe give him a dog the bounty hunter style reality show)
29) Nick Fury and the Secret Warriors (Second title for Nick Fury following his splinter team that focuses on the capture or destruction of secret organizations such as HYDRA, Clan Akkaba, Secret Empire)
30) Runaways (maybe add characters along the way such as X-23, or Cloak and Dagger)
31) Franklin Richards: Boy Genius (think dennis the mennace / muppet babies / dexters lab )
32) Jack Flag
33) Heroes for Hire
34) Longshot (his time spent in the mojoverse and the road to freeing his people)
35) Thor
36) The life and times of Amadeus Cho (the tales of a super genius / sidekick)

This is hard

37) Midnight Sons
38) Skaar King of the Savage land
39) Hulk
40) Alpha Flight
41) Nova
42) New Warriors
43) The Hood (tales from teh criminal underground)
44) Daredevil
45) Tales of the Iron Fist (anthology series about previous versions of the iron Fist)
46) S.W.O.R.D.
47) Future Foundation (take the science club that is currently in X-men add a few others like Forge, Tony Stark, Box and send them on zany scienctific adventures)
48) Excalibur (The Black Knight, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Korvis Rook’Shir [from the space team of x-men] and a few others)
49) Taskmaster
50) She-Hulk Attorney at law
51) Generation X (a grouop of mutant freedom fighters stuck on the mutant hating island of Genosha)
52) Black Widow and the Winter Soldier
31)

Mike

Captain Britain and MI:13 – go steal Cornell back
The Cerebro Files – The X-Universe is huge, a series of one shots or smaller arcs with B, C and D list characters
The Initiative – Cloud 9, Hardball, and the initiative kids need a team!

Brent

I wanted Marvel to do this ten years ago with the Ultimate books. A completely fresh start, re-branding the older titles as “Marvel Classic” or something like that. I wouldn’t want them launched all in one month like DC is doing, because I think some of those fringe titles (which I’m excited about), don’t stand a chance.

Mr Drew Q

What a great question! Anyway, this is how I see it; if Marvel was to relaunch their Universe, there’d be no more need for the Ultimate Universe, so that’d get canned. Also, they’d relaunch their MAX line with a larger line-up. That’d be considered a seperate entity so it wouldn’t be included in Marvel’s Big 53 (obviously they’d launch with 53 titles to one-up DC’s 52). Anyway, here’s Marvel’s relaunch:

Levi Tompkins

Sorry take out my Daredevil for a Warren Ellis Machine Man book, and take out S.H.I.E.L.D. For captain America who I forgot.

Only put Bendis on New Avengers and Heroes for Hire. Let Paul Tobin write She Hulk. Give a permanent X Book to Gage. Dont let Jeph Loeb or Victor Gischler write anything., only let Way write if hes with Liu, and give DeConnick a steady gig. Put Casey on Young Masters. That Storm ongoing should be written by Chris Claremont.

grave.beast.zero

in order to bring more diversity, there just needs to be a crap load of new characters
and some real inventive retconing…

bringing the new universe and ultraverse characters into the marvel universe would be essential i think.
(i never read crossgen, but they should be mixed in too i guess)
a lot of those characters (due to lack of history) could be easily re-worked.

1. Avengers – should be a world wide power for fighting the things no one could alone…
captain america, thor, iron man, black panther, ms. marvel are the core team, with a revolving cast of extras from throughout the marvel universe.
2. Captain America – NOT steve rogers, but more of a mantle that has been passed on. years of stories could be told about those who came between steve rogers and the current. the book NEEDS to give the ultimate message of “i can be anything i want” a book that any kid could read and be empowered. so there will be women captain america’s, and african american captain america’s and so forth.
3. Thor – i’d keep this pretty true to the movie
4. Iron Man – also pretty close to the movie, maybe run a permanent back up of war machine.
5. Black Panther – keep as is
6. Ms. Marvel – Carol Danvers, keep as is
7. avengers academy/initiative/young avengers – this will be an all ages book, with popular/important characters from m.u. training the next generation of heroes.
everything from classes, to teamwork exercises, to running ops with full time avengers.
8. ultraforce – taking the place of west coast avengers. prime, topaz, war machine (prototype is just redundant & unnecessary), nightmask (female version from new universal) core members, again with the rest a rotating cast. (bonus hollywood tension between wonderman and hardcase)
9. squadron supreme – midwest (chicago based?) avengers team. power princess, hyperion, nighthawk (african american version from supreme power?) blue marvel core with rotating cast again.
10. FF – future foundation current core FF members plus actual future heroes brought back to current time like spiderman 2099, hulk2099, ghost rider 2099, of course frankiln richards from mu2, obviously the 2099 heroes would have to be re-named.
11. Nova – NOT richard rider (though he would appear from time to time), but new earthbound Nova, maybe crippled latino?(i know bad joke) but the nova force would give him the power to move and help out.
12. guardians of the galaxy – peter quills ad-hock frontline force. they would be first responders to any threat would add starbrand to the group as well. with annihilators back up stories (how often does there need to be a universe threatening event really?)
13. spiderman – this would be a reboot, peter parker as a teenager, not ready for the big time…
14. venom – may parker from earth x future in current continuity
15. x men – reboot original team + second team combined at xavier’s school, missions will be ad-hock members picked by who is available and who might prove handy via whatever info obtained via cerebro.
16. x-force – wolverine led strike force to to take out mutant threats,
17. x-factor – detective agency angle like current with madrox.
18. wolverine – just because, you can’t not have a wolverine title.
19. deadpool – again, just because
20. daredevil – keep status quo
21. elektra – drop the impractical costume, make her more badass assassin, less super model.
22. powerman and iron fist – no heroes for hire, i never liked the connotations of the name. just street level bad ass-ery…
23. punisher – frank castle max title…
24. moon knight – not marc spector (or one of his multiple personalities) a new person behind the mask, considering the egyptian origins, a middle eastern character. it’d be nice to see a middle eastern person who’s not a terrorist and more importantly a role model.
25. deathlok – back to michael collins, pacifist fighting the killing machine within version.
26. hulk – bruce banner simple green hulk, no more hulk colors.
27. runaways – status quo
28. Strange Tales – dr. strange tales + random horror/mystic back up features werewolf by night, tomb of dracula, and something i thought would make a great comic… ghoul – traveling around ala ghost hunters with a film crew collecting supernatural data for the public.
29. ghost rider – back to bare bones johnny blaze trying to control the demon…
30. Blade & the nightstalkers – max book
31. thunderbolts – bad guys made good this book can always work
32. rune – weakened cosmic entity eats all the bad/dumb/characters with powers… max title (he’ll be feasting for decades…)
33. justice – new universal version, max title.
34. nightmask – new universal version
35. ruse i just picked five semi random titles from crossgen, how they’d work within marvel is a job for better men or women
36. crux i just picked five semi random titles from crossgen, how they’d work within marvel is a job for better men or women
37. brath i just picked five semi random titles from crossgen, how they’d work within marvel is a job for better men or women
38. sojourn i just picked five semi random titles from crossgen, how they’d work within marvel is a job for better men or women
39. mystic i just picked five semi random titles from crossgen, how they’d work within marvel is a job for better men or women

40. – 52 i tried to keep out any 2nd or 3rd string books, so the last 12 books could be dedicated to all new concepts…
(which of course marvel isn’t paying me for… so i’ll keep whatever ideas i have

Daryll B

lol 3 Wolverines and a Baby..(actually 5 wolvies) was done in an Exiles book right before they handed the reins to Claremont. I believe it was Bedard and Pellitier who were the creative team for those 2 issues…

Man…so many books I left out…next time I’ll go with heart instead of trying to make economic sense..(sorry Atlas, Thunderbolts, Loners)

As always this assignment seemed much easier before starting to type…..

DX

1. Uncanny X-Men- written by Joss Whedon, art by Jim Lee. This would be an easily identifiable, core X-Men team of the main stars… Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, The Beast, Shadowcat, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm and Jean Grey (!!!) The flagship X-Men book.

2. X-Men- written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, art by Travis Charest. This would be a younger, less predictable team with lots of drama and action… Rogue, Gambit, Iceman, Cannonball, Dazzler, Bishop, Havok, Polaris, Longshot, Northstar

3. X-Force- written by Kieron Gillen, art by Clayton Crain. A clandestine team of X-Men who do what the other teams can’t or won’t to keep mutantkind alive… Wolverine, Cable, Domino, Warpath, Deadpool, Magik, Archangel, Psylocke

22. Wolverine & Jubilee- Written and drawn by Frank Miller, Taking mostly place in Madripoor, a town without mercy, they serve as detectives, body guards, heroes, judge, jury and execution.

23. Daredevil:The Man Without Fear- Written by Kevin Smith, art by Joe Quesada

24. The Brotherhood of Mutants- written by Matt Fraction, art by Greg Land. Magneto has reclaimed his self appointed throne as mutant messiah, with Mystique, Sabretooth, Toad, Frenzy, Quicksilver, The Scarlet Witch and Lady Mastermind at his side.

25. Thunderbolts- written by Warren Ellis, art by Steve Micniven. Norman Osborn puts together a band of sociopaths to gain revenge on everyone who thwarted his plans. With Moonstone, Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike, Klaw, Titania, Absorbing Man and Molecule Man.

Avengers Force Works Greg Rucka with Mike Deodato and Ken Lashley(War Machine, Moon Knight, Ant-man, Scarlet Witch, Quick Silver, Wonder Man, Black Widow) A mix between West coast Avengers and Secret Avengers the team for the west coast

Young Avengers, Allan Heinberg and Paul Cornel with Jim Cheung and Mark Books(Patriot; Hawkeye; Wiccan; Hulkling; Stature; Vision; Iron Lad; Spider-girl; Thunderstrike; Skaar) Solid stories about the team taking the void of Avengers Academy with Pym serving as a mentor character and the Avengers takign active roles in training them sorta in like a teen titans fashion

SHIELD, Jonathan Hickman with Stefano Casseli and Pablo Riamondi-Just classic Nick Fury shield stories dealing with the frame work of the Marvel Universe and with the Secret Warriors as now agents of a shield black ops squad led by Victoria Hand

X-men, Mike Carey with Lenil Francis Yu and Clayu Mann(Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, Omega Sentinel, Namor, Professor X)Storm Led team for the Storm Fans to stop complaining and a combination of what Legacya and Adjectivelss X-men are trying to accomplish with the X-men participating in the Marvel Universe proper

X-Factor, Peter David with Ryan Sook and Emanuela Luppacino(Madrox; Monet; Longshot; Cecilia Reyes, Butterfly; Rictor; Shatterstar; Siren) Peter David contiuing his stories with a team that serves as the mutant detectives of the Marvel Universe

New X-men; Christopher Yost with Paco Medina and Skottie Young, Shadowcat serving as instructor for the random x-kids sitting around Utopia tieing in with both X-23 and Surge’s books

Wolverine, by Jason Aaron with Ron Garney adn Renato Guedes, Continuing his solo stories with Wolverine except not as weighed down with the weight of being in hundreds of books at a time

X-23 by Marjorie Liu and Christopher Yost with Ryan Stegman and Mike Cho, continuining tales of X-23 seperate from the X-books

Iceman, by Mike Carey with Humberto Ramos and Chris Bachalo, solo book for Bobby Drake Iceman to rehabiliate his persona after years of regressive continuity

Captain America, by Ed Brubaker with Steve McNiven and Chris Samnee, tales of Bucky Cap with an emphasis on the legacy of the title with Patriot working as a new bucky type sidekick

Black Widow, by Marjorie Liu with Daniel Acuna and Sean Phillips, Tales of Natasha as a spy with the female Bucky as a side kick

Invincible Iron-man, by Matt Fraction with Adi Granov and Salvador Larroca, Tales of Tony and his allies rebuilding Stark Industries

War Machine, by Greg Pak with art by Kenneth Rocqufort, Rhodies adventures with his pmc War Machine dealing with terrorist threats around the world as the arm of Stark Industries recovering military tech that has fallen into the wrong hands

The Mighty Thor by Kieron Gillen with Olivel Coipel and Marko Djudervic, Weaving mythology into Thor’s world with a strong emphasis on the teen loki character

Hawkeye and Mockingbird, by Jim Mccan with David Lopez, I just really want this title back

Ms. Marvel, by Dan Slott with Terry Dodson, Ongoing adventures of Carol Danvers with a writer who hopefully wants to write her more then Reed seemed to want to

Amazing Spiderman, by Mark Waid with Phil Jimenz and Marcos Martin, Peter and Mary Jane back together, not married but together and more maturity in the book while just being solid story telling

Spider-girl by Brian Reed with Amanda Conner and Clayton Henry, One step closer to Spiderman for Reed and Anya gets a 3rd shot at an ongoing

Ghost Rider by Jason Aaron with Clayton Crain, Good ole Grind house fun with Johnny back in the role of Ghost Rider and dealing with Renegade riders with the help of his brother danny and the new caretaker

Daredevil by Mark Waid withMichael Lark and Paola Rivera, Bring some light back to Matt Murdock and forgett the last couple of years of darkness brand new relaunch

Moon Knight, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, lets see where they go with this title but with more oversight in continuity

Daughters of the Dragon, by Zeb Wells with Brad Walker and Marko Checcetto, rebuildign the relationship between Misty and Colleen

Black Panther by Duane Swyzenski with Patrick Zircher and Francisco Franchavilla, wipe away the entire Hudlin run and return the Priest Run to proper continuiy and a storya bout T’challa running Wakanda and protecting it from enemies

Incredible Hercules, by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente with Reily Brown and Khoi Pham, Classic Herc and Cho bromances stories with a repowered Herc serving as the champion of an Amadeus run Olympus Corporation

Incredible Hulk by Jeff Parker with John Romita Jr. and Ed Mcguinness, Tales of the Red Hulk with the Green Hulk on Backup with Banner serving as a mission operatin as Red Hulk takes over the role of official hulk after alot of rehabiliation as a characters

She-Hulks by Dan Slott with Frank Cho and Salvador Espin, Betty raising a teenage Lyra as a mother while all three She Hulks work together as Banner’s charlies angels

Guardians of the Galaxy, by Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning with Pasquel Ferry and Scot Eaton, A reformed guardians dealing with handlign the threats of the cosmic scene

Dark Hawk and the Nova Corps, by Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning with Andrea Di Vito and Billy Tan, Replaces Nova’s solo with Dark Hawk taking Nova’s place as the Corps rebuild itself

Deadpool, by Fabian Niceaza with Ariel Olivetti, because people love Deadpool

Ultimate Avengers by Mark Millar with Bryan Hitch, a series of six issue minis that change the status quo of the ultimate marvel u once a year

Ultimate X-men by Nick Spencer with Adam Kubert and Rafal Sandavol, Reformation of the X-men to protect mutants from the human race, also deal with fixing Reed Richards after Bendis turned him into evil mc evil

Ultimate Spiderman by Brian Michael Bendis with Mark Bagley, Jessica Drew Spiderwman serving as the main character as she works with Shields Project Spiderman agent to fight all of spideys genetic freak rogues

Cloak and Dagger by Nick Spencer with Emma Rios, Cloak and Dagger fighting a war on drugs

Runaways by Brian K Vaughn with Adrian Aldaphona and David Lafuente, Old team reunited to pick up the pieces left after several failed runs begining with the return of Alex as an anti-villan character

Surge by Christopher Yost with Takeshi Miyazawa and Sana Takeda, Surge dealing with the Clan Yoshida and embarking on a solo meant to invoke diversity in the line as build one of the lower x-characters into an established marketable hero

Immortal Weapons by Ed Brubaker with David Aja and Trevor Foreman, Danny and the Immortal Weapons dealing with threats to the 7 cities with some street level fisticuffs in the center of things

Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker with Gabriel Hardman and Dan Panosian, The return of one of my favorite team concepts regardless of sales and whether it works

Taskmaster by Fred Van Lente with David Yardin, the adventures of tasky mercenary for hire and reluctant good guy

Power Pack, by Kathryn Immomen with Jaime Mckelve, an aged power pack dealign with more adult issues

Non-616
Marvelman by JONATHAN HICKMAN & SALVADOR LARROCA
(Bringing the classic character to a whole new generation of fans)
Kid Colt by JASON AARON
(The western hero’s title revived.)
Halo by NICK SPENCER
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane by DAVID HAHN(W/A)
The Howling Commandos by GARTH ENNIS (MAX)
PunisherMAX by BRANDON SEIFERT

X-Men Line:
6. Uncanny X-Men (Featuring the core X-Men characters)
7. X-Factor Investigations (Featuring the current team)
8. X-Men: The Next Generation (Featuring a rotor similar to the old New X-Men title with all the younger characters)

Cosmic Marvel:
33. Guardians of the Galaxy (Robert Rider leading Cosmo, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Groot (Who can still talk and hasnt just been downgraded to being able to say I AM GROOT as a language), Quasar, Jack Flag and Mantis)
34. Quasar, Protector of the Universe.
35. Silver Surfer, Herald of Galactus (Surfer is trying to perform duties as a Herald whilst being a hero at the same time)

Teams:
36. Atlas Forever (Agents of Atlas)
37. Claws (Shared ongoing betweek Daken and X-23)
38. Exiles (Original line-up)
39. Fury & The New Howling Commandos (Featuring Fury leading a team after the end of Secret Warriors)
40. Heroes For Hire (As Is)
41. Midnight Sons (Hellstrom, Satana, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Jennifer Kale and when they are away from other duties Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider
42. New Mutants (Original cast + X-Man and Blink)
43. Power Man and Iron Fist (New Power Man)
44. Power Pack (Modern ongoing showcasing how the four are nowadays instead of as kids)
45. Runaways
46. Shang-Chi and the Immortal Weapons (Kung-Fu title)
47. Skaar and the Hulks (Skaar leading all the Hulks and Warbound that arent in other titles)
48. Thunderbolts (As is but without Luke Cage, US Agent takes the implants Fixer offered him and leads. They also have a jet instead of Man-Thing.

Anthology:
49. Marvel Comics Presents (Ongoing Anthology title with 3 full-sized stories)
50. Marvel Team-Up (Ongoing team-up that always features different characters as opposed to one star and one guest)
51. Webs (Every arc features a different Spider-Universe hero in a tie-in to ongoing ASM arc)
52. What If? (Every issue has a different creative team)
52.

Radam

All I would say is fix the Amazing Spider-Man. Retcon the marriage with MJ or reboot him back to college/high school if they want him single again and give him back his Spider-Sense. Other than that, I think they should slim down on the Deadpool and X-men sereis and give some of the minor characters some time in the spotlight.

C-Fenix

there are lots of great lists on hear already, so i’ll list my instant buy titles that are close to my heart.

She-Hulk
Nova
Thing
Silver Surfer
x-men (cast including Rogue, Colossus, Kitty, Morph, Nightcrawler, Gambit, Beast, Darwin)
and Amazing Spider-Man (like the idea of him being in college again with MJ, but anything to eliminate the awful “one more day” crap.)

Arrow Dynamics

Just wanted to add that my relaunch of Madballs will be written and drawn by Brian Bendis. Also, Dan Clowes is going to be doing The Serpent Society and the ghost of Jack Kirby is writing and drawing Thor.

Ed (A Different One)

I spent about 45 minutes of my work time trying to put a list together and eventually gave up – too many of you guys are putting out too many great lists as it is, and I just found the task beyond me. Not so much the titles themselves, but the creative teams I would hand them over to. The possibilities were dazzling but I just never realized how much work it would to pair the “perfect” writer and artist with 52 different titles.

I think we’ve learned a few things though:

1. Many people would love to see Warren Ellis bring Nextwave back (and it would have to be with Immonen).

2. Folks are interested in seeing the Morrison/Quietly dream team work on another Marvel title. I think I saw FF and/or Strange mentioned the most.

3. Folks seems to be pretty happy with the standing creative teams on many Marvel titles. I saw votes of confidence for Slott/Martin on ASM, Hickman on FF, PAD on X-Factor, and Remender on the various books he’s landed on. I also saw some love for the Van Lente/Pak and the Abnett/Lanning pairings, as well as Fraction on Iron Man. Oh, and Jason Aaron’s name came up a lot too.

Who needs a relaunch? If Marvel could pry Morrison away from DC for another shot on one of their titles, and give Warren Ellis something interesting to do, I think the majority of Marvel’s titles are in pretty good hands.

Ed (A Different One)

As much as I loved Nextwave, I’d hate to see Ellis bring it back and disappoint. That series felt all too short, but that’s good in a way as it went out in quality. I’d almost like to leave it there and appreciate what it was.

I’d love to see Brian Clevinger or Ben Edlund get a shot at something with Marvel that is light-hearted and humorous like Spidey or another Herc/Cho mash-up (even though Pak and Van Lente already rocked the house on the latter). I’ve heard it said (and agree) that Clevinger does a better “Peter Parker” with Atomic Robo than Marvel had had for many a year (no offense to Slott who has done wonders for the title as well). I’d almost be inclined to relaunch Ultimate Spider-Man and hand it over to one of those two to take in whatever direction they wanted. I know that there are many out there who can’t imagine Ultimate Spidey w/o Bendis writing him (and deservedly so), but after 170+ issues I’d just like to see another writer take a stab at it. As great as Bendis has been on the title, so consistently for so long, there’s only so far one writer can take one character before it’s time for a new take (much respect to Bendis, though, as his run on that title is a remarkable accomplishment).

smwayfarer

You really realize just how much of a nerd you are when you spend half a day poring over a fantasy list of teams for a comic relaunch. But here it is. To each his own, but this to me is realistic perfection.

Ben Gebhart

kaijubotx

I posted exactly this on another forum I frequent, so here’s a copy & paste…

FF FAMILY:

Fantastic Four – This one will be a soft reboot. Tweek the origin a little because the “first people into space” concept doesn’t work any more. The original four are all alive and present with Franklin, Valeria and H.E.R.B.I.E. Concentrate on the adventurers/explorers aspect.

Doom – Doom has fought every hero, every villain, demons, gods, aliens, monsters and the devil himself. He’s a master of science and sorcery. He’s the biggest ego on the planet, yet he’s a king that takes care of his people. If anyone in the entire Marvel Universe was qualified to do a Dos Equis commercial, it would be Doom. Give that man a book.

SPIDER-MAN FAMILY:

Amazing Spider-Man / Spectacular Spider-Man – Spidey is Marvel’s marquee character so he gets two books. The marriage ship has sailed, so Peter is single, living on his own, working for the Bugle while trying to get his science career going. He is not on any teams because that just clutters up his world, Spidey is a solo act. All his old cast is present, and since they already brought Harry back out of the blue, I’d pull the ultimate Spidey fanboy mind screw…Gwen is alive.

Marvel Team-Up – When I first started reading comics, Spidey, in this book, was my guide to the Marvel Universe. If it ai’nt broke…

AVENGERS FAMILY:

Avengers – No New or Secret or Mighty or any other damn thing. There’s is one Avengers team with an ever-changing cast to keep it fresh. They’re back in the mansion and Jarvis isn’t a damn computer.

Avengers Spotlight – An anthology that will showcase solo stories for the multitude of Avengers that can’t support their own solo books.

Captain America / Iron Man / Thor – Not much to change with these…Bucky’s dead again, Asgard is back again and Tony is still Tony.

Avengers Academy – I like the concept of this book and the characters, and it’s a good title to market to teens. The student body can be expanded with characters from The Initiative, Young Avengers, Young Allies, etc.

Journey Into Mystery – There is a very rich mythology to Marvel’s Asgard and a lot of stories to tell.

X-MEN FAMILY:

Uncanny X-Men – Like the Avengers, let’s get this back to a single title, and let’s get them back to the Xavier Academy, the Danger Room and all the stuff that used to be great.

X-Factor – Continuing Peter David’s current incarnation which seems to be popular

New Mutants – Not necessarily the original characters, but a group of teen mutants coming to grips with their powers. The mutant version of Avengers Academy. Crossover potential there.

Wolverine / Deadpool – Duh.

HULK FAMILY:

Incredible Hulk – SMASH! I kinda like the current incarnation with Banner and Hulk coming to an agreement of their own accord.

Sensational She-Hulks – Jen Walters is doing her best to have a career in law while still trying to be a super-hero and a mentor to teen-aged Lyra. The Gamma-Gilmore Girls?

A-Bomb – Rick Jones was always the bridesmaid but never the bride, but now he’s got the powers of a Hulk. Always the rock star, Rick and his gorgeous wife Marla travel the world looking for fame, fortune, and monsters to beat up.

SOLO BOOKS:

Daredevil / Punisher / Hercules / Dr. Strange – Nothing has to change with these guys, just get some solid talent on their books.

Ka-Zar of the Savage Land – Ka-Zar tries to keep the peace in a lost land of beauty and danger. At his side are Shanna, Zabu, Matthew, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy helping him fight against such foes as the Mutates, Sauron and Stegron.

Moon Knight – I liked the original concept of a vigilante juggling multiple identities to wage his war on crime without the whole “he’s actually bat$#!* crazy” part. Lose the supernatural stuff, too.

Namor the Sub-Mariner – Namor is the king of Atlantis and the master of 3/4 of the surface o the planet. Like Aquaman, no one can ever figure out what to do with him, but I’d keep him in the ocean, build his rogues gallery and supporting cast and have some fun with the arrogant #$%&.

The Beast – Hank McCoy is one of that smartest guys in the Marvel U., he’s been an X-Man, and Avenger and a Defender, he’s charming and charismatic and he knows everybody. I think with the right writer he could support his own title.

Ms. Marvel, Agent of S.W.O.R.D. – They tried to make Spider-Woman an agent of Marvel’s first line of defense against alien threats, but that made no sense. Carol would be perfect working for S.W.O.R.D., she got her powers from an alien, she’s been crew on an alien starship, explored the galaxy..I think it would be a good fit and allow them to tell stories with her on Earth and in space.

Black Panther – Another character that every writer tries to transplant from his home. T’Challa is the king of one of the wealthiest, most technologically advanced nations on the planet, yet his country is on a continent rife with poverty, starvation, political unrest and horrible crimes against humanity. There’s no stories to tell there?

Black Knight – One of my outta left field choices, I’d set this book back in King Arthur’s court and have some 5th century hijinks.

Red Ronin – When young Rob Takiguchi’s grandfather is murdered, he discovers his grandfather’s ultimate creation, the Red Ronin. After accidentally imprinting his own brainwaves on the giant robot, Rob and Ronin become Earth’s only defense against the monstrous creations of Dr. Demonicus. Dedicated to Go Nagai, of course.

TEAMS:
S.H.I.E.L.D. – Get Nick Fury back in charge and once again make him Marvel’s 007. I would think the relaunch would bring the Sam Jackson version into the Marvel U. proper.

Agents of Atlas – No changes necessary, this was a fantastic book.

Excalibur / Alpha Flight – Bringing the international flavor. Excalibur would relaunch with Britain’s premiere heroes and would not be another X-Men book.

Invaders – WWII action as you like it!

Pet Avengers / Power Pack / Runaways – Marvel needs books that appeal to kids and teens as well and these fit the bill nicely.

Thunderbolts – Bring it back to the villains-turned-heroes concept, it worked well before they started screwing around with it.

Heroes for Hire – The current Misty Knight led book with a rotating cast.

COSMIC, WESTERN, SCI-FI and HORROR:

Guardians of the Galaxy – The originals, a group of rag-tag misfits trying to free the galaxy from tyranny. That bit always works.

Cosmic Adventures – This would be an anthology book for all things cosmic…..Adam Warlock, Star-Lord, Rocket and Groot, the Imperial Guard, whatever you like.

The Inhumans – Keep their current status as rulers of the Kree and Shi’ar. The Inhumans are from Earth, but just about every alien race hates Earth superhumans, including all the races they currently rule. That’s some story potential. Oh, and Black Bolt is alive.

Nova – Bring back Richie, Worldmind and the whole Corps. This could be Marvel’s Green Lantern franchise if they just show it some respect.

Darkhawk – Keep the current revelation that the Darkhawk persona is one of a group of evil enforcers for the Shi’ar and Chris is hunting down all the amulets before they can be reborn.

Western Tales – All things Old West…Two-Gun, Rawhide, Red Wolf, the Gunhawks and so on.

M-Tech – In a world of rapidly advancing technology, bad guys can cause a lot of havoc with just a few mouse clicks, or stuff much worse. That’s where the M-Tech crew comes in. Machine Man, Deathlok and Jocasta are the first line of defense against cyber attacks and evil A.I.’s.

Ghost Rider – Johnny Blaze gets back to basics fighting all manner of villains, monsters and demons with the occasional help of the Hellstrom siblings, Daimon and Satanna.

Vampire Tales – Dracula’s undead army is growing and only Blade and the Nightstalkers know the danger that’s coming and how to stop it.

Legion of Monsters – For centuries, the monsters have been hunted to near extinction. The few that remain have sought refuge under the protection of the Legion of Monsters. Morbius, Werewolf-by-Night, the Living Mummy, Man-Thing and the Manphibian protect what is left of monster kind, but Elsa Bloodstone has vowed to finish the work her father’s Monster Hunters began decades ago.

Alaric

First off, no need to reboot/reset/rejig/re-anything. That’s DC’s game – it’s the reason I don’t read DC titles regularly and don’t invest in the characters – your mileage may vary, but continuity is at the heart of my love for comics – I’m 55 and I’ve been buying Marvel since I was ten years old – “Heroes Reborn” mortified me and I’ll never recover from OMD.

Marvel COULD do this – and actually I think they should. All that would be required is for creators to be asked to wrap up all dangling plot threads in time for issues released in one particular month – with plenty of leeway, of course – perhaps as much as eighteen months. And by wrap up, I mean short term and long term threads. Aim for a defined status quo for each character, with revenge taken, puzzles uncovered. So – for example – Magneto. At relaunch, he’s an X-Man (or a villain, take your pick, but his status is clear). His history is still there, and it can still be used – but not in complex form for a while. For the first couple of years, the creator responsible for X-Men develops NEW relationships and problems for him, keeping his character consistent – allowing reference to character derivation experiences such as the Holocaust and a former antipathy to the X-Men – but avoiding detailed reference to exact incidents in old continuity. New reader friendly, but easily swallowed by long-term readers. And – for two years at least and probably three – all new stories launched from premises which make their first appearance in the new titles. If we get Skrulls, the Skrulls have a new plan. If we get Norman Osborn, it’s a fresh ascent to power, with a mere acknowledgement that he’s played that game before.

There’d be an option to clean house. There could be an event – an unusual departure for Marvel, I know – which puts some of the cast on gardening leave – making the Marvel universe a more streamlined place. Some sort of general power loss maybe – perhaps a rehash of Maximum Security, where concerned extraterrestrial folks develop some mechanism or other to depower worrying earth guys – I dunno, just a thought. But that would just be the chocolate in the cake, and isn’t a dealbreaker.

52 titles – well, they have to sell, so I’d steer clear of anything too outrageous. But I would cut down on the overexposure of certain characters and open up opportunities for others. Shuffle creative teams, definitely. One Avengers team book. One X-Men team book. Maybe an additional omnibus title for each. My 52 (writers only, and only where I have a strong idea):-

1. Avengers (Peter David): I’d just love to see Peter on the premier team book. Avengers for me is as much (almost more at times) about character relationships as action, and (for me) nobody nails character like Peter. Back to the traditional line-up (Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Wasp, original Vision, Scarlet Witch – three or four more rotating – restore Henry McCoy to his clownish glory) – 5 or 6 rotating members).

5. Defenders (Warren Ellis): Original team with drop-ins. Hard sell to Warren, I know.

6. Spider-Man (Brian Bendis). I really do think he’s one of Marvel’s best, but team books and Brian just never seem to quite gel. I’d love to see him bring Ultimate Spider-Man sensitivity to mainstream Spider-Man, being a mainstream Spider-Man with Mephisto outed and Mary Jane back in – er – harness.

7. Thor.

8. Iron Man.

9. Captain America.

10. Daredevil.

11. Wolverine. If it was a non-commercial choice, this would be out for me. I don’t think there are any interesting stories left to tell with Logan as a solo act. But it IS a commercial choice, so yes, Wolverine. Or maybe Wolverine Family, with Daken and X-23 sharing the limelight. I’d like Wolverine returned to the slightly more sympathetic character of earlier days – ready to do dirty work but not insensitive to it).

12. Fantastic Four (stick with Hickman).

13. Heroes For Hire (as current).

14. Deadpool. I’d kick this too if not for the sales. But less of the comedy horror and more of the comedy – Mark Waid, maybe.

15. X-Men (Omnibus Title) – everything else factors in here including Hope and the New Mutants.

16. Guardians of the Galaxy (original and new mash-up) – Starlin.

17. The Incredible Hulk – one book – get rid of all the Reds – play up the different Hulk incarnations.

18. Horror title sweeping up Hellstrom, Blaze, Frankenstein, but not….

19. Dracula (And The Vampires), which can carry a title on its own.

20. Moon Knight (keep exploring the new direction).

21. Daredevil

22. Black Panther

23. Fury (just has to be Rucka).

24. Ms. Marvel (gotta work eventually).

25. Runaways.

26. Thunderbolts (got a weird preference for Joss Whedon).

27. Doctor Strange (again, has to work eventually).

28. Alpha Flight (not a big Byrne fan, but if he could be talked back for this….)

29. Punisher – again, for the sales, but a new direction is seriously needed for this book – and not a direction which takes us remotely near Frankencastle.

30. She-Hulk.

31. MI:13 (or a European team).

32. Iron Fist.

33. Cage.

34. X-Factor (no changes).

35. Mystique (I know she’s dead – now she’s not).

36. Captain Marvel (ditto).

37. X-Men Second Class – Claremont. I know, I know. How many chances? But the early stuff was pure magic. I’m talking about between the raindrops stories during the first 40 or so new X-Men issues. I’m reading the backups top early Classic x-Men now (for the first time) and some of them still glow.

38. Nova.

39. FF (Omnibus title). Solos, Inhumans etc..

40. Alias – Daily Bugle-centric.

41. Man in the street book. Long form stories with unpowered guys interacting with the heroes.

42. Precinct book – Rucka repeating his DC trick.

43. What If? You know you love it if it’s quality.

44. Hercules.

45. Street team.

46. Black Widow.

47. Hawkeye.

48. Howard The Duck.

49. Event title (one book, roll them all the time, careful crossovers).

50. Doctor Doom.

51. Osborn.

52. Team-up/spotlight book.

No alternate universes at the start (including Ultimate). Let six months go by.

THE ULTRAVERSE:(all 4 of which fit in with one of the other subsets too)

51. Prime
52. Ultraforce
53. Mantra
54. Rune

THE OTHER CHARACTERS WHO ALWAYS DESERVED MORE SHINE AND/OR PROVIDE SOMETHING DIFFERENT

55. Hank Pym (and Janet?) (BECAUSE)
56. Quasar (Marvel’s unloved Green Lantern)
57. Cloak & Dagger (because this should be the easiest jump to live action TV)
58. Wonder Man (because he should be the next most important Avenger, and can also make an easy jump to live action TV.movies)
59. Foolkiller – Punisher meets Deadpool meets awesome.
60. Aegis – cuz the Greek Gods need love too, but Hercules is too similar to Thor to carry his own book. And in the handful of issues Aegis was around, he was pretty awesome. Luckily, death doesn’t matter when Zeus is around.

and Finally:

61.6 UATU – antholgiy for new characters, flashbacks, alternate realities, what ifs or anything else you want. and make it 60% bigger than the average comic.

First, can someone please hire Kelly Thompson to edit some comics? She has a talent for putting together dream teams.

Second, of the 160 creators involved in the DC relaunch, I only count 12 that have been mentioned for that have been mentioned in this imaginary Marvel relaunch. Considering that you can assign anyone to any title having a mere 7% of DC creators considered desirable is amazing. If the actual DC relaunch fails, then that number is going to loom pretty large in my memory.

bluedevil2002

I kept CrossGen out, because I’m limiting this to just stuff that fits into the Marvel Universe itself. (And DC will probably add a few outside of their 52 anyway) I did include a couple of Ultraverse titles for diversity’s sake, even though they don’t have a snowball’s chance of actually getting made. Also, keeping Marvelman separate, and no Ultimate, MAX, or Adventures stuff, because that’s separate lines.

A lot of the main franchises (Avengers, Spidey, X-Men), I’m envisioning two core books.

Jarhead

People keep talking about OMD because it was the worst thing ever and ruined the character rather than freeing it up. I don’t anybody is really going to care about Spider-Island. IT’s like he’s a different character now. That’s the largest problem of doing a retcon. They should decide who Spider-man is and should be.

I don’t know who Carlie Cooper is and what Mr. Negative is supposed to be. Even if you retcon it, it’s like Peter’s still that awful person who would rather cower rather than face up to his stupid actions (which made no sense). We aren’t going to get a ‘Unmasking’ story we were cheated on that. The ‘people’ at Marvel just seemed to give up and make Spider-man do whatever and anything could happen but never mattered because here’s something else, then they retcon it and we never really got anything. Nothing can fix that. Unless you make it that the ‘magic’ SPider-man was someone else for the duration of the Other to the OMD perhaps. Where had the real guy been, I suppose you could make that story. Sort of like the Lost Years of Ben Reilly. I try not to buy stuff with Spider-man in it. There’s ‘FF’ but then I saw Spider-man was is in it and decided not buy something else. Just couldn’t do it.

I’ll probably get Avenging Spider-man for some reason. Maybe it’s because Joe Mad is drawing it and the previews look great. But that guy seems like the same idiot that they’ve been pushing on us in those previews. He doesn’t have a thought in his head. Peter always seemed to think about stuff and crack a joke or two. I loved that old Spider-man. He was great.

Never thought that I’d have to work at stretching out this list. I stuck to Marvel’s current writing stable and a few others that they could most likely get to write for them. I think each of these hypothetical books would offer something unique.

13. Black Panther – King T’challa and his wife Storm must protect Africa and the world while dealing with politics with Dr. Doom, Namor, and Black Bolt. Diversity aspect: Black, African hero

14. Luke Cage – The original hero-for-hire is open for business to save for college for his bay daughter. Diversity aspect: black hero

15. Ms. Marvel – Not written by Brian Reed. Focuses on Carol Danvers’ friendships with Spider-Woman and Jessica Jones and her rivalries with Mystique, the Brood, Rogue, and Moonstone. Diversity aspect: female hero who is a recovering addict

16. She-Hulk – By Gail Simone and Terry Dodson. She-Hulk is back in the courtroom, taking on the Marvel Universe’s weirdest cases. Diversity aspect: Female hero

17. Hulk

18. Red Hulk

19. Herc

20. Iron Fist and the Immortal Weapons – A kung-fu-meets-supernatural book the spans the globe and globes. Diversity aspect: A group not made up of white guys with one token girl and one token person-of-color

21. Alpha Flight – Depicts what it would be like if the government ran a super hero team with all the resources, all the contractors, and all the demands. Guardian (Oracle/Pepper-Potts-as-Hera-esque leader), Vindicator (field leader/electronics expert), Sasquatch (genetics expert), Madison Jeffries (robotics expert), Talisman (magic expert), and Snowbird (myth expert).

22. Alias – Jessica Jone is back to solving cases, using her new resources with the Avengers. Diversity aspect: Female hero

32. Reptil – Sean McKeever and Ardian Alphona. A POV teenage character as he tries to survive growing up in the Marvel Universe. Diversity aspect: Latino hero.

33. New Warriors – Justice, Firestar, and Speedball mentor a new group of New Warriors while dealing with their old relationships and old villains.

32. Young Avengers – Now officially in training to become the next Avengers

33. Runaways

34. Cloak and Dagger – Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. An often dark, sometimes romantic portrayal of trying to survive to adulthood in the shady parts of New York. Diversity aspect: Half the team is black, half is female.

35. The Thunderbolts – Songbird, Fixer, and Mach Whatever infiltrate the Hood’s gang undercover to bring them in. They threaten being exposed by their former teammates Moonstone, Ghost, and a back-to-crime Blizzard. They have to compromise their morals to get the job done and risk losing themselves to crime again.

36. Guardians of the Galaxy – A mash-up of heavy hitters like Nova and Silver Surfer with favorites like Groot and Rocket Raccoon. Diversity aspect: sci-fi

37. Blaze of Glory – Marvel’s cowboys (and cowgirls and Red Wolf) keep the Old West safe as a proto-superteam. Diversity aspect: Western

38. Agent of SHIELD – Get a glimpse of the Marvel Universe’s dark espionage side from the perspective of a rookie agent. Diversity aspect: Espionage

39. Fantastic Four – Johnny’s Back, and the team continues to solve science problems with Future Foundation.

Huthaifa

AVENGERS: EARTH MIGHTIEST HEROES: YOST & BAGLEY
ILLUMINATI:THE SECRET AVENGERS: SPENCER & BUTCH GUICE
NOVA & THE NEW WARRIORS. Basically Kids at War with Nova as their leader.GAGE & MCKONE
QUICKSILVER:MOST WANTED. a FUGITIVE STYLE BOOK with Pietro on the run from everybody for a crimes, he didnt commit. PAD& CHRIS SAMNEE
INVADERS:THE FIRST AVENGERS: LISS AND ZIRCHER
EXCALIBUR:AVENGERS OF THE SUPERNATURAL: DR. STRANGE,CAPTAIN BRITAIN,BLADE,NAMORA,BLACK KNIGHT, AND THE SCARLET WITCH. By Parker and Bachalo.

non-team books:
Wolverine: The world’s baddest
Amazing Spider-Man by Dan- Slott
Hulk: Peter David &JRJR just Banner no other Hulks would be present in the reboot
Solo Avengers: Yes I would bring it back!
Captain America: The First Avenger (set during WWII)
The Invincible Iron Man by the current team
DareDevil
Deathlok
Captain America (set in current time)
The Mighty Thor
Cable
War Machine
Web of Spider-Man (featuring stories from Spidey’s past)
Gambit
Silver Surfer
Wolverine: Tales of the claw (untold tales from his past)
Hawkeye and Mockingbird
Black PantheR
Moon Knight
Dr. Doom
Ka-Zar
Kraven: The worlds deadliest hunter
Punisher

Marvel Team-up
What if…..
Marvel Comics Presents……(used for new characters and those who do not haev their own books)

If I were in charge there would be a limit to the amount of teams a person could be on. Just 2! So Wolverine could only be 2 teams throughout the whole line. It’s never made sense to have a person on mulitple teams at the same time, when there a lot of under used characters out there.

maverick0023

Marvel 52 Relaunch
I would like to say firstly that I think no character should have more than one solo book about them. A single solo book and then team books about a character plus mini/maxi series gives characters plenty of exposure, more than that and you water down the person.
Solo Books 25
Thor
Captain America- Steve Rogers
Iron Man
Ant-man- Eric O’Grady
Hulk
She-Hulk
Skaar
Dr. Strange
Blade
Moonknight
Ghost Rider
Wolverine
X-23
Spider-man
Spider-Woman
Deadpool
Taskmaster
Punisher
Black Widow
Daredevil
Elektra
Iron Fist
Black Panther
Hercules
Echo

I also want a regular Thor book. Pretty much the same thing they are doing now. Art by Pasqual Ferry & Olivier Coipel, but I’m not sure about the writer, they could keep Fraction or bring back Gillen or let Jason Aaron write it, he would kill on that comic.

Heroes for Hire – team book. Luke and Danny as team leaders also feturing the Immortal Weapons and that young Power Man kid. Fraction & Aja (or maybe Jason Latour).

Daughters of the Dragon – sister-book to Heroes for Hire. Colleen Wing, Misty Knight and Jessica Jones form an all-girl detective agency. Bendis & Maleev (“or maybe Jason Latour” on this one too. I like Jason Latour)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – the team behind Gotham Central reunited to show us the in’s and out’s of Marvel’s espionage.

daniel the demon cleaner

Jolewist

Okay, I haven’t got them all, but I have a few that I would definitely love to see. Please forgive me awful spelling of artist names.

1.)Amazing Spider-Man-written by Joe Kelly, with alternating artists Max Fiurama,Marco Checcetto, Staz Johnson, and Phil Jiminez. The book would come out on the same schedule it is now, and would continue with Peter at Horizon labs. Whilst I do like what Slott’s doing, Joe Kelly was undoubtedly the best writer this book has seen in a long, long while.

2.) Amazing Fantasy. If Action Comics can still exist when there’s a Superman ongoing, and Detective Comics still hangs in there when we have Batman(and his various other books!) We are sure as hell bringing back Amazing Fantasy! The book will be devoted to the Spider-Man family though, as appose to Spider-Man, much like when Detective Comics belonged to Batwoman & The Question. In the lead story, we will have Ben Reily: Scarlet Spider, by an as yet undecided creative team, though I’m thinking it should be written by Fred Van Lente, and we should see art by Mike Deaodato Jr. Ben Reily will be more than just Peter’s clone though, and will try and become more of his own man, and we’ll bring back some of his supporting cast too. He will be wearing a new costume. The other feature will be about Arana as Spider-Girl, and by the creative team of Paul Tobin and Clayton Henry. Each issue of Amazing Fantasy will begin with a double page spread featuring the current Madam Web. It will be structured similarly to Scott Synder’s Detective Comics- it will be done in story arcs, in which the first x amount of issues will feature Scarlet Spider in the lead, with Spider-Girl as back up, then we will have 2 issues in which Spider-Girl takes over the whole book, before returning back to the Scarlet Spider in the lead. When returning back to Scarlet Spider in the lead, there will be a new back up feature-Kraven The Hunter by J.M Dematties and Marco Checcetto then this will take a 2 issue lead, then the next co feature will be Black Cat by Peter David and an as yet unnamed artist with a 2 issue lead, and then return back to Scarlet Spider, and Spider-Girl

3.)Captain America-by Ed Brubaker, with the current team of rotating artists, and Steve McNiven whenever we can get him. McNiven on covers all the time. Why mess with a team that’s putting out Marvel’s best book?

4.)Daredevil-written by Matt Fraction & Rick Remender, with alternating artist Jerome Opena & Mark Brooks, all coloured by Dean White. On covers it would be Lee Berejemo or Marko Djurdevic if he want back to the creativity of his original Daredevil covers.

5.)Deadpool-written by Joe Kelly, with art by Ed McGuinness. Daniel Way is great and all, but come on, these guys were gods.

6.)Dr Strange-Alan Davis. Nuff Said.

7.)Exiles-written by Warren Ellis & art by Stuart Immonen

8.)FF-written by Jonathan Hickman, alternating artists Steve Epting and Barry Kitson. Even upon Johnny’s resurrection, this book remains as it is.

9.)The Incredible Hulk-Peter David writing. Yes guys, we’re bringing him back! On art, maybe Terry & Rachel Dodson? If not, then Paul Pettlier. This needs to be a top tier title, that takes the Hulk beyond being a “HULK SMASH” kind of guy, but having him as more than just a super-powered Bruce Banner. It needs to be quiet clear that they are two separate personalities.

10.)Legion Of Monsters-written by Fred Van Lente with art by Kev Walker. Covers by Arthur Suydam.

11.)Man Thing-written by Rick Remender with art by Tony Moore. It’d be a bit like Punisher, and Franken-Castle, and as outrageous as the Claremont run,
Wolverine & Alpha Flight-written by Mike Carey, art by Olivier Coipel.

12.)She-Hulk-written by Dan Slott, art by Steffano Casseli & Humberto Ramos, covers by Adam Hughes. Whilst Slott is great on Amazing Spider-Man, this is where he belongs. Casseli & Ramos were born to draw She-Hulk. Adam Hughes draws sexy women. This needs to be pushed to be one of Marvels top tier books.

14.)Uncanny X-Force-written by Rick Remender, alternating artists Jerome Opena and Mark Brooks, with Dean White on colours permanently. The idea is that when Opena is on Uncanny X-Force, Brooks will be on Daredevil, and vice versa, with White permanently colouring both. Esad Ribic on covers. This is another if it ain’t broke don’t you dare fix it book.I know Wolverine is also on Alpha Flight & X-Men, but he shall only be on these teams, with no solo book. He will have his own solo stories in Wolverine & The X-Men, and may occasionally take part in his own solo mission in Uncanny X-Force. The 3 writers will work together much like the Spider-Man brain trust use to, so that the portrayal of Wolverine is in sync;there will also be some months when one or two of these books are without Logan, because he’s real knee deep in shit with his other titles.

15.)X-Men-written by Kieron Gillen, art by Dale Eaglesham. This is essentially the Cyclops X-Men team we’re getting post Schism, but I refuse to relaunch Uncanny unless it returns with it’s original numbering straight away.

Shane

So here it is…my final list with all artists and writers. This took some work. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did with it. I have been collecting comics for 40 years and have mostly been a Marvel guy, though lately I don’t read as much cape stuff as I do indy comics. I have been blessed enough to do talks to kids in libraries across South Dakota about comics, on the radio and even to adults. What a wonderful hobby we share. I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s lists. I hope you find some of mine entertaining.

So over on Comics Should Be Good, they asked what 52 books you would do for Marvel should they do a turn around like DC did. I have nothing better to do so i came up with this.

X-Titles
1.Uncanny X-Men (THE Mutant book, still in San Fran): Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

Jolewist

1.)Amazing Spider-Man-written by Joe Kelly, with alternating artists Max Fiurama,Marco Checcetto, Staz Johnson, and Phil Jiminez. The book would come out on the same schedule it is now, and would continue with Peter at Horizon labs. Whilst I do like what Slott’s doing, Joe Kelly was undoubtedly the best writer this book has seen in a long, long while.

2.) Amazing Fantasy. If Action Comics can still exist when there’s a Superman ongoing, and Detective Comics still hangs in there when we have Batman(and his various other books!) We are sure as hell bringing back Amazing Fantasy! The book will be devoted to the Spider-Man family though, as appose to Spider-Man, much like when Detective Comics belonged to Batwoman & The Question. In the lead story, we will have Ben Reily: Scarlet Spider, by an as yet undecided creative team, though I’m thinking it should be written by Fred Van Lente, and we should see art by Mike Deaodato Jr. Ben Reily will be more than just Peter’s clone though, and will try and become more of his own man, and we’ll bring back some of his supporting cast too. He will be wearing a new costume. The other feature will be about Arana as Spider-Girl, and by the creative team of Paul Tobin and Clayton Henry. Each issue of Amazing Fantasy will begin with a double page spread featuring the current Madam Web. It will be structured similarly to Scott Synder’s Detective Comics- it will be done in story arcs, in which the first x amount of issues will feature Scarlet Spider in the lead, with Spider-Girl as back up, then we will have 2 issues in which Spider-Girl takes over the whole book, before returning back to the Scarlet Spider in the lead. When returning back to Scarlet Spider in the lead, there will be a new back up feature-Kraven The Hunter by J.M Dematties and Marco Checcetto then this will take a 2 issue lead, then the next co feature will be Black Cat by Peter David and an as yet unnamed artist with a 2 issue lead, and then return back to Scarlet Spider, and Spider-Girl

3.)Captain America-by Ed Brubaker, with the current team of rotating artists, and Steve McNiven whenever we can get him. McNiven on covers all the time. Why mess with a team that’s putting out Marvel’s best book?

4.)Daredevil-written by Matt Fraction & Rick Remender, with alternating artist Jerome Opena & Mark Brooks, all coloured by Dean White. On covers it would be Lee Berejemo or Marko Djurdevic if he want back to the creativity of his original Daredevil covers.

5.)Deadpool-written by Joe Kelly, with art by Ed McGuinness. Daniel Way is great and all, but come on, these guys were gods.

6.)Dr Strange-Alan Davis. Nuff Said.

7.)Exiles-written by Warren Ellis & art by Stuart Immonen

8.)FF-written by Jonathan Hickman, alternating artists Steve Epting and Barry Kitson. Even upon Johnny’s resurrection, this book remains as it is.

9.)The Incredible Hulk-Peter David writing. Yes guys, we’re bringing him back! On art, maybe Lenil Yu? If not, then Paul Pettlier. This needs to be a top tier title, that takes the Hulk beyond being a “HULK SMASH” kind of guy, but having him as more than just a super-powered Bruce Banner. It needs to be quiet clear that they are two separate personalities.

10.)Legion Of Monsters-written by Fred Van Lente with art by Kev Walker. Covers by Arthur Suydam.

11.)Man Thing-written by Rick Remender with art by Tony Moore. It’d be a bit like Punisher, and Franken-Castle, and as outrageous as the Claremont run,
Wolverine & Alpha Flight-written by Mike Carey, art by Olivier Coipel.

12.)She-Hulk-written by Dan Slott, art by Steffano Casseli & Humberto Ramos, covers by Adam Hughes. Whilst Slott is great on Amazing Spider-Man, this is where he belongs. Casseli & Ramos were born to draw She-Hulk. Adam Hughes draws sexy women. This needs to be pushed to be one of Marvels top tier books.

*please note, I came up with this, before Bachlo had been announced on art. Marvel, thank you!*

14.)Uncanny X-Force-written by Rick Remender, alternating artists Jerome Opena and Mark Brooks, with Dean White on colours permanently. The idea is that when Opena is on Uncanny X-Force, Brooks will be on Daredevil, and vice versa, with White permanently colouring both. Esad Ribic on covers. This is another if it ain’t broke don’t you dare fix it book.I know Wolverine is also on Alpha Flight & X-Men, but he shall only be on these teams, with no solo book. He will have his own solo stories in Wolverine & The X-Men, and may occasionally take part in his own solo mission in Uncanny X-Force. The 3 writers will work together much like the Spider-Man brain trust use to, so that the portrayal of Wolverine is in sync;there will also be some months when one or two of these books are without Logan, because he’s real knee deep in shit with his other titles.

15.)X-Men-written by Kieron Gillen, art by Dale Eaglesham. This is essentially the Cyclops X-Men team we’re getting post Schism, but I refuse to relaunch Uncanny unless it returns with it’s original numbering straight away.

16.) X-Factor by Peter David and another unnamed artist. He can do whatever he likes with this title as long as it’s not the typical X-Men book, because whatever he seems to do is gold.

18.) Hawkeye & Mockingbird. The same creative team of Jim McCann and David Lopez, though we’ll also have -Paco Diaz work in some issues. Covers by Jock.

19.) Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command. Disney now own Marvel, so let’s integrate some of them into the Marvel universe like DC did there other properties they have acquired. In the Toy Story films, whilst Buzz was a toy, he was toy from a popular t.v show(which was later released in real life), then moved onto video games and a franchise-time to introduce them as a serious comic! Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, with art by Pasqual Ferry. This book would be set in the future of the Marvel Universe, so we could have some interactions with the Shi’ar empire, and Galactus, and could even pull it into the cosmic events if need be, but it would pretty much exist as it’s own title. Marvel’s answer to the Green Lantern & Legion Of Superheroes franchises, rolled into one, with a character that is as recognizable as any of there main superheroes-hey, we could even have those lovable 3-eyed aliens in a Guardians Of Oa kind of capacity?! This book needs to happen, right now.

20. Woody’s Round-Up. Buzz Lightyear was a toy from part of a franchise, as was Woody, so why doesn’t he deserve his own title? Writing this, I haven’t entirely decided as I don’t know who would be the perfect fit, so I’m going to pose Andy Diggle, with art by Jock. Diggle doesn’t do superheroes the best, but when it came to Green Arrow Year One, which was essentially just a guy trying to right wrongs with his bow and arrow, and things like The Losers, he does a great job. Jock is on art not just because of his collaborations, but genuinely because he could really pull of a great western with these characters, taking them a step beyond what we know them as. Other options for writer included Garth Ennis(but hell, this isn’t a MAX book!) or more realistically Daniel Way. If Daniel Way was writing, I’d much rather see Will Conrad on art. This book would be set in the past of the Marvel Universe, and would only encounter characters such as the Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, and other western characters. The most outrageous it would get is coming across The Phantom Rider, and maybe a western Iron Fist, and a Ghost Rider(the Spirit Of Vengeance kind). Whilst I’m more of a Woody than a Buzz fan, I think Buzz’s comic has much more potential.

21.) Marvelman & The Defenders- someone else suggested this earlier, and I thought exactly the same thing. The perfect way to integrate the character into the Marvel Universe, by putting him on a Marvel-type JLA, featuring the team we know, but for the first team together as an actual team. Paul Cornell writing, and on art? Let’s go for Terry & Rachel Dodson on art.

22.) Invincible Iron Man-current creative team.

23.) Herc-current creative team

24.) The Mighty Thor- current creative team, though I have assigned Coipel to Wolverine & Alpha Flight so we may need some rejigging

25.) Journey Into Mystery current creative team.

26.) Tales Of Suspense. Split in two halfs, one with Nick Fury: Agent Unknown, and the other Bucky Barnes: U.S Agent(though near enough wearing the Winter Soldier get up, but he needs a new name). Both halfs written by Brubaker. On art, Mike Deodato Jr.

Jolewist

27.) Blade The Vampire Hunter-written by Marc Guggenheim, art by Howard Chaykin, covers by Marko Djurdevic. Loved this title first time round, it’s coming back into the more diverse M.U with the same creative team!

Dalarsco

Blade X

1. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
2. SPIDER-MAN AND THE AMAZING WARRIORS (which will be basically New Warriors team book with Spidey on the team)
3. ALPHA FLIGHT
4. CLAN DESTINE
5. POWER MAN AND IRON FIST:HEROES FOR HIRE (basically a new HFH team co-lead by Luke and Danny)
6. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (the original classic futuristic version of the team)
7. THE INFINITY WATCH (featuring many of the characters from both the original Infinity Watch and the present day Guardians of the Galaxy team)
8. MICRONS or MICRO FORCE (which is the Micronauts under a different name)
9. POWER PACK
10. FANTASTIC FOUR PLUS/+ or FANTASTIC FOUR FOUNDATION (basically the original corfe 4 FF members plus new members who (a) are brand new characters or (b) care characters who are not already appearing in another book or have their own book)
11. IRON MAN
12. THOR
13. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND SHIELD
14. GHOST RIDER (featuring the Danny Ketch GR)
15. INCREDIBLE HULK AND COMPANY (featuring the Gravage version of the Hulk and a group of human and superhuman characters who travel the world taking down evil scientist or evel organizations who use and abuse science for evil)
16. STRANGE DEFENDERS (a Doctor Strange led team of heroes that deals specifically with mystical and paranormal threats)
17. TEAM EXCALIBUR (basically CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 with a classic name)
18. BIG HERO 6
19. THE PANTHER’S CLAWS (a Black Panther led team of globetrotting international heroes)
20. AVENGERS
21. AVENGERS H.I.T. SQUAD (basically Kurt Busiek’s original name and concept for the Thunderbolts, except this time the books premise would be expanded to include the training of new heroes, as well as the reformation of some villains)
22. UNCANNY X-MEN
23. X-MEN XSE (an X-Men team that covertly works with Interpol)
24. NEW MUTANTS
25. DAREDEVIL
26. MOON KNIGHT
27. SHROUD AND THE NIGHT SHIFT (a slight reworking of the original concept in which Shroud puts together a team of heroes to go undercover and pretend to be villains)
28. THUNDERBOLTS (this time the book will be focused mostly on a brand new team of characters led by Songbird, all of whom are ex criminals and have committed some kind of redeemable crime in their past, and who are brought together by the Favor Banker for (a) redemption for their past crimes and (b) to go on missions for the Favor Banker that he deem righteous)
29. KILLRAVEN AND THE FREEMEN
30. THE CREW (a reworking of the original concept that will be a DD led team of street level heroes)

Sijo

Well if *I* published Marvel, I’d establish the ‘core’ titles that form the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk plus The Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men team titles. These would always be published, along an anthology book to give lesser characters (and different creators) a chance to show their stuff. Those that seem popular would get a miniseries, and if THAT sells well, then a an ongoing.

Overall it’d be about 20 superhero titles (with NOBODY, not even Wolverine getting a second book- each should stand on its own.) I would however allow a separate line for continuity-free takes on the characters (ala Marvel Max, but not every title in it has to be “extreme”). No ‘Ultimate Marvel’ tho.

I would also allow a line for non-superhero comics eg. Science fiction, fantasy etc. ala the old Epic Comics line.

The creators? Whoever prove to have the right talent at the time. No ass-kissing here.

Jolewist

Also, I know this is kind of shameful self-advertising here, but what the hey, we need to start the cause somewhere. And it is kind of related to the topic at hand:

The following link is to a Facebook petition I just created. I’m sick and tired of Marvel, and now DC renumbering their flagship titles, and I think it’s about time we all join together (regardless of loyalties to whatever title or characters) to save them these iconic titles from hiding their proud run. Join today, and lets get to work on running campaigns to secure the future of Amazing Spider-Man!

Mitch C

What a challenge. I kind of figure that if Marvel did something like this they wouldn’t include all their kid orientated titles, as well as al their creator owned and MAX titles, so I focused on the main Marvel titles.

Jeff T

Disney books, if they ever decide to actually join forces:
Tron, with Black Hole backups.
John Carter of Mars
Pirates of the Carribean
Nightmare Before Christmas
I would wish for an Incredibles crossover if they weren’t at Boom.

Ed (A Different One)

Wow – your idea of a Casanove/Nextwave crossover completely blows my mind. If done well (like the Hellboy/Beasts of Burden crossover done by Dark Horse earlier this year), that book would have to be considered highly dangerous/unstable material given all of the awesomeness that would be compressed into those pages.

JoeMac

I think Marvel could definitely use a reboot, especially since they seem to be insisting that every story that ever happened in a Marvel comic actually happened. (see The Illuminate.) Unless he’s supposed to be 90 years old, Spider-Man has fought a new supervillain every 90 minutes since he started in the business. Earth has been destroyed several times. Cap is still a “man out of time” even though he’s travelled to a dozen planets. Everybody has died at least twice. And by my last count, there are currently 9,769 superheroes operating in America.

I’ve been reading comics for 50 years and even I find their continuity daunting. Read a character history of your average X-Man. It’s insane.

Burn it down. Start over.

I’ve only been reading Marvel for about 30 years now, but nonetheless, I totally agree.